Carbon monoxide horror

AN insulation firm has been fined £500,000 after a pensioner from Middleton died from carbon monoxide poisoning hours after the flue of her gas boiler was blocked by cavity wall insulation.

HIS Energy Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive following Joyce Moore’s death, which happened less than five hours after workers left her Middleton Road home.

Manchester Crown Court heard the company visited the 83-year-old’s home in October 2012, to do the work, which involved blowing insulation beads into the wall cavity.

One employee noticed a pile of beads behind the boiler and phoned the firm’s main office, where he was to make the householder aware of the issue. Neither of the two managers consulted arranged for a gas engineer to visit the property, and the workmen didn’t put a notice on the boiler preventing its use

When Mrs Moore’s son turned on the heating later that evening, he felt dizzy and went to check on his mother, finding her slumped on her bed.

HIS Energy Ltd, which has since gone into voluntary liquidation, was fined £500,000 and ordered to pay £24,968.44 in prosecution costs.