Heat Exhaustion Kills Worker

A worker has died of heat exhaustion inside a feed silo. Paul Sharp,
31, who worked for Silocheck UK had not been trained in access and
egress in confined spaces, nor provided with adequate equipment.

The incident occurred when Mr Sharp was removing fatty acids from a
silo at an animal feeds factory in Wiltshire, in August 2006.

To clean the inside of the silo, Mr Sharp had to enter the container
through a hatch in the roof. He was asked to abseil into the silo
unaccompanied even though he had not been trained in rope work. His
supervisor and another colleague remained on the roof. Once inside the
container, a pressure washer was used to steam the walls and
subsequently scrape off the fat acid residue.

Whilst cleaning, he complained to his colleagues about the heat inside
the container, and moments later, his colleague heard a bang from
inside the silo and shouted down to Mr Sharp to check that he was OK.
After no response Mr Sharp was pulled up unconscious. He had not been
provided with the correct breathing apparatus or air blowers. No winch
had been provided, which resulted in some difficulty in getting the
worker's body through the small hatch.

Another worker abseiled down to Mr Sharp to straighten out his body so
that he could be lifted out of the silo. As none of the workers had
received any first aid training, CPR could only be administered on the
advice of the emergency services over the phone. Mr Sharp was
pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. The cause of death was
heat exhaustion, which triggered an underlying heart condition.

At Swindon Crown Court on 5th June 2009, Silocheck UK pleaded guilty
to breaching regulation 4(2) of the Confined Spaced Regulations 1997
for failing to provide a safe system of work, and regulation 5(1) of
this same legislation for insufficient emergency arrangements. The
company was fined £15,000 for each breach and ordered to pay costs of
£15,000 also.

The firm commented in mitigation that they had no previous convictions
and following the incident, they voluntarily ceased operations to
review its work methods. Additional safety equipment has been
purchased and all employees have now been provided with rope-work and
first aid training.

Ian Whittles, HSE Inspector said: "This tragic incident highlights the
importance of appropriate training and emergency arrangements,
especially when working within confined spaces. In this case, there
were no appropriate systems of work, particularly with regard to
access. For example, had there been a winch available, then rescuing
Mr Sharp from inside the silo would have been much quicker and
easier".