Two pest control workers died at a chicken factory after an odourless gas leak, a court has been told.
The frozen bodies of Neil Moon, 49, and Jonathan Collins, 34, were found in a narrow passageway at Banham Poultry in Norfolk on October 4, 2018.
Both men suffocated following a build up of nitrogen caused by a leak as they worked to eradicate the factory of rodents.
A coroner’s court review in 2024 was told Mr. Moon and Mr. Collins were discovered with frozen hands and faces hours after their families raised concern that they hadn’t returned home from work.
It was heard at Norfolk Crown Court on Tuesday that the leak which caused the workers’ deaths was the result of a poorly installed duct meant to carry the gas to a chimney on the factory roof.
The duct had become detached, causing it to fall into the passageway where Mr. Moon and Mr. Collins were working.
Banham Poultry and Air Products Limited have pleaded guilty to health and safety offences over the incident on the basis that the ‘breaches were causatives of the deaths’.
Craig Hassall KC, prosecuting, said nitrogen gas used to chill slaughtered chickens had pooled in the passage after being expelled from a safe chill system that had been designed, installed and maintained by Air Products.
Neil Moon (pictured), 49, was found dead in the early hours of October 4, 2018, at the Attleborough chicken factory in Norfolk
The frozen body of Jonathan Collins (pictured), 34, was also found at the factory
A map illustrating where the men were found in a narrow gap in the wall of a chicken factory
He added: ‘When these men entered the passageway ducting had become detached, pumping concentrated nitrogen into a narrow space.
‘Ultimately, they were killed by a colourless, odourless gas. When they walked into the passageway they were given no warning of the risks.’
The court was told the two workers employed by pest control contractors Ecolab had arrived at the factory at 8.30am and were last known to be alive at 11.40am when captured on CCTV.
But when neither of the men returned home that evening their worried families raised concerns, sparking a search of the site.
Their bodies were discovered at 1am in a one-man width passageway running between the factory and the tracks at Attleborough railway station.
Mr Hassall told the sentencing hearing that the safe chill system had been installed at the factory in May 2017. However concerns had subsequently been raised about clouds of mist drifting across the railway station tracks and platforms.
To try to solve the problem three modifications were made in September 2017, January 2018 and April 2018 including adding extra exhaust ducts to allow the waste gas to be expelled from the roof chimney.
Mr Hassall said: ‘The prosecution case is that additions and communications about these changes were not properly done and the ducting added to the chimney was not properly robust.’
He said the actions of the two companies had been ‘cavalier’ and they had failed to keep employees and others working on site safe.
The prosecutor said safety systems at the factory had been lax with no record of Mr Moon being on site or Mr Collins, who had signed in, having left.
Banham Poultry Limited, which had employed 900 people, entered administration in 2018 and is currently in liquidation.
Mr Hassall said financial problems had delayed plans to relocate the safe chill system on the factory site.
At the packed sentencing hearing, due to last two days, the emotional families of the two men paid tribute to them.
Mr Moon’s wife Gillian, who was pregnant at the time, said her husband had been a ‘calm and easy-going person’ who was someone who would ‘do anything for anyone’.
‘My life stopped but I had to find the strength to carry on for our son,’ she added. ‘I still don’t know why it has taken these companies seven-and-a-half years to accept responsibility for causing these deaths.
‘The careless and reckless actions of those responsible have had catastrophic consequences.’
Mr. Moon’s daughter Dakota described him as an ‘amazing father’.
She said: ‘My dad was a kind and caring man just doing his job. They were robbed of their lives.’
Mr Collins’ fiancée Sara Dutton said he was a ‘strong and devoted family man’ who doted on his children aged one, four and six at the time of his death.
She said he had been excited to start a new job with future plans for a new home and to get married.
‘My life and the lives of my children changed forever,’ Ms. Dutton said.
‘Our grief has not diminished over time. I have had seven years just treading water. Not really living, just waiting for the truth.’
The hearing continues.
