Company fined over slurry deaths

The workers died in a tank of farm slurry while working for a Thetford firm

A company in Norfolk has been fined £72,500 after three workers died in a tank of farm slurry in July 2004.

Timothy Bartrum, 46, and Graham Morris, 54, both of Thetford, Norfolk, and George Barnes, 28, of Brandon, Suffolk, died while working for Enviro-Waste.

As well as the fine, Enviro-Waste was ordered to pay £50,000 in costs.

At Norwich Crown Court company director Roger Clark and general manager Gordon Betts were fined £10,000 each for breaching health and safety rules.

The firm Enviro-Waste, which is based in Thetford, and the two directors were fined after earlier admitting the charges.

The fatal accident happened after Mr Bartrum fell into the tank and his colleagues died while trying to save him.

The prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive follows an investigation into their deaths in the tank of chicken waste.

An inquest into the deaths of the three men recorded a verdict of misadventure.

A post-mortem examination showed the men had drowned.