Vol. 71/No. 35      September 24, 2007

The bosses were fined just £400,000 (£1=U.S.$2) August 28 after pleading guilty to health and safety charges in court.

“I feel very angry and bitter,” said Doyle. “[Annette] is finished but they will go on. Yes, they’ll get a fine, but they will go on.”

The blast also injured 40 people, 17 of them seriously. According to an eyewitness, the nineteenth-century building collapsed “like a house of cards.”

Judges can impose unlimited fines under health and safety laws, but Philip Brodie, the presiding judge in the case, expressed concern that a steeper fine could have put the company out of business. He also said that the company’s “blameworthiness” was limited.

“The company has never apologized,” said Angela Rowlinson, whose sister Tracy McErlane died. Rowlinson said she felt the bosses got off lightly. “They have never shown any remorse.”

At the time, chairman Campbell Downie claimed the explosion was an “act of God.” Three years later, evidence has forced the company to admit its failure to assess various health and safety hazards.

Liquid propane gas pipes buried during construction in 1974 had deteriorated and corroded over time. A steel floor was installed over the pipes in 1980, creating a basement. Eventually gas escaped from the corroded pipes and accumulated in the basement. The cloud of accumulated gas ignited and exploded in 2004, causing the building to collapse. The court was told it would only have cost £405 to replace the faulty pipework.

Workers at the plant had raised concerns about dangerous company practices prior to the blast, complaining several times to the government Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and writing to members of Parliament. They were ignored by bosses and government bodies alike.

Even after the explosion, Downie wrote to workers ordering them to ignore “speculation” about safety concerns and slamming workers who spoke out as “unreliable sources.” The HSE investigated the factory in both 2000 and 2003 and concluded that conditions there were safe. The bosses were warned in advance of HSE visits, and inspectors fingered a worker who complained about health risks, according to the Daily Mirror. There was no union at Stockline.

Families of the dead workers want a full public inquiry. Because of the bosses’ guilty pleas, much of the evidence that may have come out in a trial will stay under wraps. “We need to know why,” said Doyle. “Compensation means nothing… . We want to know if the Health and Safety Executive is checking the premises to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) is backing the call for a public inquiry and its lawyers are acting for six of the families. STUC officials are also pushing for more legislation “to act as a future deterrent to prevent further deaths.”
 
 
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