Syngenta fined £400,000 for dangerous steam release at UK plant

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GLOBAL pesticides manufacturer Syngenta has been fined £400,000 (US$547,000) after pleading guilty to two health and safety offences following a dangerous steam release at its Huddersfield site in 2023.  

The fine follows an investigation by the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) which found that Syngenta failed to properly maintain an isolation valve and several flange bolts. The deficiencies led to a high-pressure steam release while a contracted mechanic was fixing a steam trap on small-bore pipework. HSE said the 59-year-old man “narrowly escaped serious injury”.  

HSE brought the prosecution at Leeds Magistrates’ Court, having previously served an improvement notice in February 2024. The regulator found that, because of widespread corrosion, the mechanic had to cut the flange bolts using an electrical saw rather than removing them with a spanner. Cutting bolts can increase the risk of an uncontrolled release of pressurised contents, the regulator said. 

Inspector David Welsh said “relatively simple control measures” would have made the maintenance work safer. HSE confirmed Syngenta’s compliance with the improvement notice in November 2024.  

Syngenta also failed to keep adequate risk assessment documentation. HSE found the company “failed to appreciate the increased risk involved in relying on a single method of isolation when there was known corrosion of the work equipment”. The regulator said single methods of isolation were “routine” at the plant, despite guidance published in 2006 that encouraged companies to use safer double isolation methods.   

Welsh added that both the maintenance and risk assessment failures made a high-pressure steam release a “dangerous accident waiting to happen”.  

Syngenta has since reviewed its safety protocols for pressurised systems maintenance and operational procedures. A spokesperson said: “The safety and wellbeing of every individual who works at our facilities – whether employee or contractor – is our absolute priority.  

“We deeply regret that our operational standards did not meet the high level of safety we demand of ourselves, resulting in injury to a valued member of our contracted workforce.”