Eyesight damaged by Drain Cleaner

Posted on Friday 11th February 2011

McDonalds Restaurants Ltd have fined £5000 with costs of £15 744 after a prosecution by Wandsworth Council.  An employee lost approximately 45% vision to his eye after acid drain cleaner blew back into his face as he was attempting to clear a blockage in a washing machine waste pipe at McDonalds' Wandsworth Bridge Restaurant in June 2008.  The Court heard that the defendant had failed in their duty of care to the employee and did not adequately supervise or ensure his safety. The risk assessment for locally bought chemicals was not implemented, training was inadequate and as such the use of hazardous substances was not recognized as dangerous. The Defence argued that this was a failure to follow Company policy at local level rather than a systemic failure by McDonalds.  (EHN, 20/01/11 Issue 02 p 17)

So what this means in terms of your own business.... if you have chemicals in use you should have safety data sheets and  COSHH risk asessments for each one. You should not allow the staff to purchase off the shelf chemicals as they may purchase hazardous items such as the drain cleaner and then there is no safety information or training in place for their use.  Personal protective equipment is a must when using hazardous chemicals and the risk assessment and safety data sheet assist in determining what is required.  PPE should be worn so that if there is an incident like this blow back the result is not loss of eyesight.