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News & Reports health and safety
Practice fined for health and safety breach DAVIES Veterinary Specialists has been fined £35,000 and ordered to pay £50,378 in costs after admitting breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) reports that it prosecuted the Bedfordshirebased practice after it emerged that the practice’s fume cabinet in which staff prepared chemotherapy drugs to treat animals with cancer was not used in the way it had been designed for. ‘This meant that employees had potentially been exposed to substances that are harmful to human health and can cause cancer,’ the HSE says. The HSE told Luton Crown Court that a dangerous occurrence was reported to it in September 2011 when one of the vets at the
418 | Veterinary Record | November 1, 2014
practice believed that the fume cabinet was unsuitable. Its investigation found that there was no system of work in place to prevent or reduce the risk of exposure to employees, that there had been no maintenance of the fume cabinet for many years and the cleaning procedures were inadequate. Also, staff had not been given any safety training in the safe use of the fume cabinet, there was inadequate personal protective equipment and there were no monitoring systems. ‘This meant that over a period of over four years, from July 2007 until September 2011, staff working at the practice could have been exposed to the potentially harmful drugs,’ the HSE says. At Luton Crown Court on October 23, Davies Veterinary Specialists pleaded guilty
to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. Speaking after the hearing, Emma Page, an HSE inspector, commented: ‘The chemotherapy drugs used to treat cancer in animals can cause cancer in humans and harm unborn babies. The company had no arrangements in place to ensure employees could work safely when preparing these drugs. Around 125 people work at the practice of which a small number could have been at risk of developing cancer. ‘Simple measures, such as an appropriately designed, maintained and serviced fume cabinet, protective equipment adequate cleaning procedures and proper training, would have prevented exposure.’ doi: 10.1136/vr.g6483
Downloaded from http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/ on March 10, 2015 - Published by group.bmj.com
Practice fined for health and safety breach
Veterinary Record 2014 175: 418
doi: 10.1136/vr.g6483 Updated information and services can be found at: http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/175/17/418.3
These include:
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Notes
To request permissions go to: http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions To order reprints go to: http://journals.bmj.com/cgi/reprintform To subscribe to BMJ go to: http://group.bmj.com/subscribe/
News & Reports health and safety
Practice fined for health and safety breach DAVIES Veterinary Specialists has been fined £35,000 and ordered to pay £50,378 in costs after admitting breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) reports that it prosecuted the Bedfordshirebased practice after it emerged that the practice’s fume cabinet in which staff prepared chemotherapy drugs to treat animals with cancer was not used in the way it had been designed for. ‘This meant that employees had potentially been exposed to substances that are harmful to human health and can cause cancer,’ the HSE says. The HSE told Luton Crown Court that a dangerous occurrence was reported to it in September 2011 when one of the vets at the
418 | Veterinary Record | November 1, 2014
practice believed that the fume cabinet was unsuitable. Its investigation found that there was no system of work in place to prevent or reduce the risk of exposure to employees, that there had been no maintenance of the fume cabinet for many years and the cleaning procedures were inadequate. Also, staff had not been given any safety training in the safe use of the fume cabinet, there was inadequate personal protective equipment and there were no monitoring systems. ‘This meant that over a period of over four years, from July 2007 until September 2011, staff working at the practice could have been exposed to the potentially harmful drugs,’ the HSE says. At Luton Crown Court on October 23, Davies Veterinary Specialists pleaded guilty
to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. Speaking after the hearing, Emma Page, an HSE inspector, commented: ‘The chemotherapy drugs used to treat cancer in animals can cause cancer in humans and harm unborn babies. The company had no arrangements in place to ensure employees could work safely when preparing these drugs. Around 125 people work at the practice of which a small number could have been at risk of developing cancer. ‘Simple measures, such as an appropriately designed, maintained and serviced fume cabinet, protective equipment adequate cleaning procedures and proper training, would have prevented exposure.’ doi: 10.1136/vr.g6483
Downloaded from http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/ on March 10, 2015 - Published by group.bmj.com
Practice fined for health and safety breach
Veterinary Record 2014 175: 418
doi: 10.1136/vr.g6483 Updated information and services can be found at: http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/175/17/418.3
These include:
Email alerting service
Receive free email alerts when new articles cite this article. Sign up in the box at the top right corner of the online article.
Notes
To request permissions go to: http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions To order reprints go to: http://journals.bmj.com/cgi/reprintform To subscribe to BMJ go to: http://group.bmj.com/subscribe/
