A Glasgow-based recycling company and a director have been fined a total of £145,000 for exposing staff to toxic mercury fumes, public liability insurance holders have been told.
Twenty employees from Electrical Waste Recycling Group, formerly known as Matrix Direct Recycle, had high levels of mercury in their system, with five showing extremely high levels following the exposure at a West Yorkshire site between October 2007 and August 2008.
The firm was fined £140,000 with costs of £35,127 after it pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, three separate breaches of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 and one breach of the Control of Lead at Work Regulations 2002.
Director Craig Thompson was also prosecuted after pleading guilty to breaching a substance regulation.
As part of the Health and Safety Executive's new year message, it asked firms to look at how they protect staff from harmful substances. 