No prosecution for asthma company

Powertrain was a sister company of MG Rover

A car engine firm where employees were found to be suffering lung disease is not being prosecuted, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has announced.

Experts launched an investigation in 2004 following ill-health among staff at the Powertrain plant in Longbridge in Birmingham.

Some 101 employees at the plant suffered from lung complaints.

Powertrain was run by Phoenix Venture Holdings which went into administration when MG Rover collapsed in April 2005.

They were very breathless even with minimum exertion and needed high doses of steroids Dr Alistair Robertson, Birmingham Chest Clinic

The HSE has said it was thought to be the largest outbreak of occupational asthma linked to metalworking fluids in the world.

Workers at the car engine factory were advised in 2004 to wear face masks after a large number of cases of occupational lung disease were discovered.

The illnesses were first detected at the end of 2003 when the Birmingham Chest Clinic noticed a significant number of workers coming to them suffering from extrinsic allergic alveolitis (EAA), an inflammatory disease affecting the lungs.

'Doses of steroids'

A survey of the plant found 84 workers had contracted occupational asthma and 24 had EAA, with some workers suffering from both.

Dr Alistair Robertson, from the chest clinic, said: "Some of these workers were severely disabled and about to go into a no-pay situation.

"They were very breathless even with minimum exertion and needed high doses of steroids."

Most staff have found new jobs but some have been so badly affected they can no longer work.

Machine mist

The HSE is warning thousands of workers could be at risk of contracting respiratory diseases unless changes are made to the way metalworking fluids are used.

Field director Sandra Caldwell said: "The HSE investigation has been long and thorough, and we now know that the cause of the disease was mist from metalworking machines, which was widespread throughout the factory.

"While we do not know the precise agent within the mist that triggered the outbreak, we did find links to bacteria, and used metalworking fluid. "

Other causes, such as metals leaking into the mist from machining and washing components are thought unlikely to have caused the outbreak, she added.

The HSE has updated its guidance on metalworking and the results are available on its website.