Rolls-Royce has been fined £200,000 and ordered to pay £176,500 after breaching safety regulations that led to employees being exposed to radiation.
The company’s Marine Power Operations business, in Sinfin Lane, faced seven charges in the case, which was brought by the Health and Safety Executive and the Environment Agency.
Leicester Crown Court heard that significant failings led to a radioactive source being lost for approximately five hours at the Sinfin Lane site on 3 March 2011.
The charges centred on the management of risk of exposure of employees to ionising radiation from radioactive sources used in industrial radiography.
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Speaking after the hearing, David Orr, HSE’s specialist inspector of radiation, said:
“Industrial radiography carries a greater risk of radiation exposure compared to other industrial uses of radioactive sources by nature of the very high activity sources used. HSE expects companies carrying out such work to have robust safety systems and procedures in place to protect employees during normal work and following a radiation accident such as the detachment of the radioactive source.
“Gamma radiation emitted by this type of radioactive source is harmful to human health. Rolls-Royce is fully aware of the danger it poses and has a clear duty to protect staff from harm. However the company failed its duty of care on this occasion, losing control of the source without realising it.
“There was no effective surveillance of it for five hours and the exposure of workers to radiation, including some who were not involved in the industrial radiography work, was considerably in excess of the annual permitted dose.”
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