For immediate release 1 October 2007
STUC Welcomes Announcement of Public Inquiry into Stockline Explosion
The STUC today welcomed the announcement by the Lord Advocate, Elish Angiolini, and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Peter Hain MP, that there will be a Public Inquiry into the ICL Plastics explosion that killed nine workers and injured many more.
Grahame Smith, STUC General Secretary, said:
“We welcome this Public Inquiry, which follows more than three years of campaigning by the seven families in the ICL Support Group. We have worked closely with the families during this time and we are delighted that their determination to search for the truth has delivered the Inquiry they wanted. Hopefully, it will provide the answers to the questions that the families have been seeking as to how their loved ones died.
“The failures that led to this tragedy developed over five decades and we feel it is wholly unacceptable that these failures pre-date the introduction of the Health and Safety at Work Act in 1974.
“Clearly, we need to await the publication of the full remit of the Inquiry but as the families have said to Peter Hain, they need to know why their loved ones died, why certain actions were not taken to properly assess the condition of the buried pipework, and did the Health & Safety Executive’s enforcement strategy and lack of resources prevent adequate inspection of this company and also many other small businesses where workers may be at risk.
“Finally, the families are adamant that the Inquiry should be in a position to make strong recommendations to ensure that no other families have to suffer the same pain and heartache they have endured since the 11 May 2004.”
ENDS
For further information, contact:
Ian Tasker, STUC Assistant Secretary – 07974 966 227