Neglected gates led to drowning

Prosecutions and Claims |
15.10.2007

Two firms have been fined a total of £200,000 after a nine-year-old girl drowned in a reservoir at a factory complex. The child strayed into the dangerous area after the reservoir operator BSN Medical and site owner Empress Mills failed to take reasonable precautions to secure perimeter and internal gates properly.

Lisa Regan drowned in about one and-a-half metres of water at Glen Mill in Colne, Lancashire, in May 2004. She had been playing with three other children in one of the site car parks when they managed to get into an area containing open reservoirs and covered tanks. The other children raised the alarm after they found Regan floating face down in a reservoir. When rescuers finally got her out, she was unconscious and she died overnight in hospital.

Exactly how she ended up in the water is still unclear, but the HSE's investigation concluded that the children got through to the dangerous area by untying nylon string on a reservoir access gate.

The investigation also found that the main perimeter gates to the factory were often unlocked, and one set was off its hinges because of building work. A second internal access gate to the reservoir area had been open and off its hinges for about a year, and lids on the covered tanks were not properly locked down. "There was a history of gates not being properly locked, and children had been seen by the reservoirs by BSN staff the day before the incident," said HSE inspector Anthony Polec.

Despite recent changes in site ownership and staff access, no one had assessed the risks associated with the reservoirs. Empress bought Glen Mill from BSN about six months before the accident but then it leased back the west end of the site to BSN, while it occupied the east part of the site.

But Land Registry records showed that part of the site BSN was using - which included the tank and reservoir area - was not formally included in the area it had leased. Although only BSN used the reservoir area, Empress owned the land and had also commissioned the building work for the car park extension, which led to the perimeter gate being off its hinges.

BSN Medical and Empress Mills both pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act in that they failed to protect the safety of non-employees. At Preston Crown Court on 14 September, Judge Gilbart fined BSN £175,000 with £36,229 costs, and Empress Mills £25,000 plus £10,000 costs.