Skip to main content
IOSH Magazine: Safety, Health and Wellbeing in the world of work - return to the homepage IOSH Magaazine logo
  • Visit IOSH Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit @ioshmagazine on Twitter
  • Visit IOSH Magazine on LinkedIn
Gender equality
Practice meets perfect
May/June 2023 issue

Main navigation

  • Home
    • Browse previous issues
    • Member accolades
    • Member tributes
  • Health
    • Mental health and wellbeing
      • Bullying
      • Drugs and alcohol
      • Mental health
      • Stress
      • Wellbeing
    • Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)
      • Ergonomics
      • Manual handling
      • Vibration
    • Occupational cancer
      • Asbestos
      • Hazardous substances
      • Radiation
  • Safety
    • Incident management
      • Chemicals
      • Electricity
      • Fire
      • First aid
      • Slips and trips
    • Non-health related fatalities
      • Road safety
      • Work at height
    • Risk management
      • Confined spaces
      • Disability
      • Legionella
      • Lifting operations
      • Lone workers
      • Noise
      • Personal protective equipment
      • Violence at work
      • Work equipment
      • Workplace transport
  • Management
    • Human factors
      • Accident reduction
      • Behavioural safety
      • Control of contractors
      • Migrant workers
      • Older workers
      • Reporting
      • Safe systems of work
      • Sickness absence
      • Young workers
    • Leadership and management
      • Employee involvement
      • Management systems
    • Management standards
      • ISO 45001
      • ISO 45003
    • Planning
      • Assurance
      • Compliance
      • Emergency planning
      • Insurance
    • Rehabilitation
      • Personal injury
      • Return to work
    • Strategy
      • Corporate governance
      • Performance/results
      • Regulation/enforcement
      • Reputation
    • Sustainability
      • Human capital and Vision Zero
  • Skills
    • Communication
    • Personal performance
      • Achieving Fellowship
      • Career development
      • Competencies
      • Personal development
      • Professional skills
      • Qualifications
    • Stakeholder management
    • Working with others
      • Leadership
      • Future Leaders
  • Jobs
  • Covid-19
  • Knowledge Bank
    • Back to basics
    • Book club
    • Infographics
    • Podcast
    • Reports
    • Webinars
    • Videos
  • Products & Services
  • Management
    • Human factors
      • Sickness absence
      • Accident reduction
      • Behavioural safety
      • Control of contractors
      • Migrant workers
      • Older workers
      • Reporting
      • Safe systems of work
      • Young workers
    • Leadership and management
      • Employee involvement
      • Leadership
      • Management systems
    • Management standards
      • ISO 45001
      • ISO 45003
    • Planning
      • Assurance
      • Compliance
      • Emergency planning
      • Insurance
    • Strategy
      • Corporate governance
      • Performance/results
      • Regulation/enforcement
      • Reputation
    • Sustainability
      • Human capital and Vision Zero
  • Health
    • COVID-19
    • Mental health and wellbeing
      • Bullying
      • Drugs and alcohol
      • Mental health
      • Stress
      • Wellbeing
    • Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)
      • Ergonomics
      • Manual handling
      • Vibration
    • Occupational cancer
      • Asbestos
      • Hazardous substances
      • Radiation
  • Safety
    • Incident management
      • Chemicals
      • Electricity
      • Fire
      • First aid
      • Slips and trips
    • Non-health related fatalities
      • Road safety
      • Work at height
    • Risk management
      • Confined spaces
      • Disability
      • Legionella
      • Lifting operations
      • Lone workers
      • Noise
      • Personal protective equipment
      • Violence at work
      • Work equipment
      • Workplace transport
  • Skills
    • Communication
    • Personal performance
      • Career development
      • Competencies
      • Personal development
      • Qualifications
      • Professional skills
      • Achieving Fellowship
    • Stakeholder management
    • Working with others
      • Leadership
      • Future Leaders
  • Transport and logistics
  • Third sector
  • Retail
  • Mining and quarrying
  • Rail
  • Rehabilitation
    • Personal injury
    • Return to work
  • Utilities
  • Manufacturing and engineering
  • Construction
  • Sector: IOSH Branch
    • Sector: Northern Ireland
    • Sector: Midland
    • Sector: Merseyside
    • Sector: Manchester and North West Districts
    • Sector: Ireland East
    • Sector: Ireland
    • Sector: Edinburgh
    • Sector: Desmond-South Munster
    • Sector: Qatar
    • Sector: Oman
    • Singapore
    • Sector: South Coast
    • Sector: South Wales
    • Sector: Thames Valley
    • Sector: Tyne and Wear
    • Sector: UAE
    • Sector: West of Scotland
    • Sector: Yorkshire
  • Healthcare
  • Sector: Fire
  • Sector: Financial/general services
  • Sector: Energy
  • Education
  • Sector: Communications and media
  • Chemicals
  • Sector: Central government
  • Catering and leisure
  • Agriculture and forestry
  • Sector: Local government
  • Sector: IOSH Group
    • Sector: Financial Services
    • Sector: Sports Grounds and Events
    • Rural industries
    • Sector: railway
    • Public Services
    • Sector: Offshore
    • Sector: Hazardous Industries
    • Sector: Food and Drink
    • Sector: Fire Risk Management
    • Education
    • Construction
    • Sector: Aviation and Aerospace
Quick links:
  • Home
  • Categories
  • News
Hazardous substances
Education
Catering and leisure

SCUBA supplier fined £9.3k in schoolboy coma case

Open-access content Matt Lamy — Friday 6th August 2021
From the archive:  Just so you know, this article is more than 1 year old.
web_Scuba-diving-training_credit_iStock-1090716438

iStock

A SCUBA equipment supply company has been fined £9,300 and ordered to pay £11,000 costs after providing a diving school with contaminated air that led to children being taken so ill during a training session that one ended up in an induced coma. 

On 26 June 2017, Manchester Grammar School pupils became unwell during a scuba diving course in the school swimming pool. Twelve pupils aged 14 and 15 were involved, with eight subsequently admitted to hospital with suspected carbon monoxide poisoning. Two boys were seriously ill – one of whom was put into an induced coma with potentially life-threatening injuries.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) along with Greater Manchester Police, found that dive training staff from course provider YU Diving had obtained refills to SCUBA air tank cylinders from Aqua Logistics Limited. 

When the air tanks were tested, eight were found to contain high levels of carbon monoxide. Investigators from HSE also visited Aqua Logistics and found high levels of carbon monoxide in a compressor which had been used to fill the tanks. 

'Suppliers of breathing air to the diving community and public should ensure that they use correctly installed and maintained equipment accompanied by regular testing of the air supplied'

Wigan and Leigh Magistrates Court heard that a fire in the filtration system had been the probable cause of contaminated air. Aqua Logistics Limited and its sole director, 51-year-old Geoffrey Gordon Shearn were held responsible for not correctly installing and maintaining the company’s high-pressure compressor system. 

Prosecutor Mark Monaghan told the court that Mr Shearn had modified the compressor himself two years earlier in an attempt to combat moisture problems, and a sensor designed to cut off the compressor in the event of a fire was subsequently found to be not working. 

Aqua Logistics Limited of Enterprise Centre Two, Chester Street, Stockport pleaded guilty to breaching section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act. At a sentencing hearing last week, the company was fined £9,300 and ordered to pay £11,000 costs.

Mr Shearn also pleaded guilty to breaching section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work Act. He was ordered to pay £5,085 costs and given a 12-month community order with requirement for 100 hours unpaid work.

Passing sentence, District Judge Mark Hadfield described the incident as being of 'the utmost seriousness'. However, he said he believed it was 'very much an isolated incident from an unknown cause'.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE specialist diving inspector Richard Martins said: 'This case highlights the importance of ensuring that compressed breathing air sold to the public is safe. The quality of the air supplied is essential to the preservation of life. 

'Suppliers of breathing air to the diving community and public should ensure that they use correctly installed and maintained equipment accompanied by regular testing of the air supplied. Further tragedy was narrowly averted through the quick response of the school staff, diving instructors, and the Manchester emergency services.'

In 2019, a swim school was fined after a three-year-old girl suffered chemical burns during a swimming lesson.

And in 2016, David Lloyd Leisure was ordered to pay £330,000 for safety failings following an incident in which a five-year-old almost drowned at one of its clubs.

 

You may also be interested in...

web_lorry-driver_credit_iStock-1215705573

 Predicting Alzheimer’s with driver monitoring

Monday 9th August 2021
Companies who monitor the driving behaviour of staff may be able to contribute to their employee’s long-term health and wellbeing by spotting early signs of Alzheimer’s disease, a new study has revealed.
Open-access content
Hovington_HSE

 £34k fine for lower leg amputation incident

Monday 16th August 2021
A construction company has been fined £34,000 following an incident that resulted in one of its workers having their leg amputated below the knee.
Open-access content
web_Morrison-storefront_credit_Paul Maguire_shutterstock_1347627551

 Morrisons denies charges in worker death case

Thursday 19th August 2021
Supermarket chain W.M. Morrison PLC has pleaded not guilty to four health and safety charges following the death of one of its workers in 2014.
Open-access content
web-interior-Vue-Cinema-©Alamy-AK7TNX

 Vue cinemas prosecuted over seat crush death

Thursday 22nd July 2021
The cinema chain has been prosecuted for ‘a complete lack of risk assessment’ after a man was crushed to death by a faulty reclining chair.
Open-access content
Easy Load2

 Six-month suspended sentence for skip and waste boss

Friday 27th August 2021
The managing director of a skip hire and waste management firm whose employee suffered life-changing injuries in the company yard, has received a six-month suspended prison sentence, with the company itself fined £150,000.
Open-access content
web_woman-on-conference-call-WFH_credit_iStock-1254704796

 Covid-19 pandemic inspires new European workplace safety standards for home-workers

Thursday 8th July 2021
The European Commission has said it will review and update EU rules on workplace safety in light of the Covid-19 pandemic to better reflect the fact that millions of people are now working from home.
Open-access content
Topics
News
Hazardous substances
Education
Catering and leisure
Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Latest Jobs

Health and Safety Improvement Manager

Leeds
£35000 - £50000 per annum
Reference
5452992

SHEQ Systems Advisor

Up to £40000.00 per annum + Car Allowance
Reference
5452988

Senior Health and Safety Manager

Reading
Up to £65000.00 per annum + Great Car Allowance & Benefits
Reference
5452983
See all jobs »

Sign up for regular e-alerts

Receive the latest news and features, free to your inbox

Sign up

Subscribe to IOSH magazine

Receive the print edition straight to your door

Subscribe
IOSH Covers
​
FOLLOW US
Twitter
LinkedIn
YouTube
CONTACT US
Contact us
Tel +44 (0)20 7880 6200
​

IOSH

About IOSH
Become a member
IOSH Events
MyIOSH

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to IOSH magazine
Write for IOSH magazine

IOSH Magazine

Health
Safety
Management
Skills
IOSH Jobs

© 2023 IOSH • IOSH is not responsible for the content of external sites

ioshmagazine.com and IOSH Magazine are published by Redactive Media Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive Media Group Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ