Drinks manufacturer fined £500k after distillery burns incident

The drinks manufacturer Diageo Scotland Limited has been fined half a million pounds after an incident at their whisky distillery that left a worker with over 30% burns to his body.

On 24 March 2021, the mechanical engineer was reparing a defective pump at Diageo’s Glenlossie Distillery Complex in Elgin, Speyside. Suddenly, liquid sprayed him from a pot ale pipe nearby, at a temperature of 104 degrees Celsius.

The liquid burned the engineer’s arms, hands, shoulders, back, chest, lower legs and ankles. He spent two weeks in an induced coma under intensive care.

Pot ale is a byproduct, or wastewater from the distilling process. Large amounts of this residue are typically left in a pot still after whisky is distilled there.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that Diageo failed to do all that was reasonably practicable to ensure maintenance operations could be carried out without a worker being put at risk of injury.

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Diageo Scotland Limited, of Lochside Place, Edinburgh, pleaded guilty to breaching Sections 2(1), 2(2)(a), 2(2)(c), 33(1)(a) and 33(1)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £500,000 at Inverness Sheriff Court on 16 December 2024.

HSE Inspector Isabelle Martin said:

“This incident could so easily have been avoided by ensuring that procedures were in place to ensure that changes to work equipment installed in the plant were safe.

“However, more importantly Diageo should have had procedures in place to ensure that plant could be isolated safely and prevent the release of hazardous and dangerous substances.

“Companies should be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the required standards.”

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Drinks manufacturer fined £500k after Distillery burns incident

What are hazardous substances?

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