An avoidable disaster

All employees have a right to work in premises where risks to their health and safety are properly controlled. The ICL plastics factory explosion in May 2004 was not merely the result of a hidden corroded pipe leaking liquid petroleum gas, it was the consequence of how a lax health and safety culture can turn a workplace into a death trap. Nine people were killed that day when a four-storey building collapsed into a pile of rubble. Another 33 were injured.