Association fined £70,000 for carbon monoxide death
A housing association has received a £70,000 fine following the death of a security guard from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Clyde Valley Housing Association pleaded guilty last month to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act after 37-year-old Thomas Fraser was found dead on one of its building sites.
The security guard, whose employer Alpha Securities provided security services for CVHA, was killed on 6 February 2008 by a build-up of toxic carbon monoxide fumes from a petrol generator used to heat and light flats at the £2.2 million development. He was found feet away from the generator in a poorly-ventilated temporary office.
The Motherwell-based housing association admitted in a hearing at Hamilton Sheriff Court that it had failed to ensure Mr Fraser properly understood how to operate the petrol heater. In sentencing, Sheriff Douglas Brown said the fine would have reached £100,000 if the association had pleaded not guilty.
Further investigations regarding Alpha Securities are still underway.
CVHA chief executive Tom Barclay said: ‘Although Mr Fraser was not our employee, we deeply regret the role our actions may have placed in his untimely death. This incident has had a profound effect on our staff, who pride themselves on the work they do in ensuring communities prosper.
‘The association would like to end its statement by reaffirming its profound sympathy to the family of Thomas Fraser.’
