Johnson Matthey fined

Johnson Matthey, which makes catalytic converters for the motor industry, has been fined £35,500 for four offences of breaching Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) Regulations.

The company was also ordered to pay £30,000 costs to the Environment Agency by Cheshunt Magistrates Court.

The judge was told that at the time of building the plant an automatic process shutdown system was not installed, even though it was stipulated as a condition in the PPC in the permit.

This would have automatically shut down the plant in the event of abatement plant failure. The abatement plant was put in place to reduce potentially harmful substances such as oxides of nitrogen (NOx) to safe levels.

Because there were no such safety measures installed in the event of an abatement plant failure, the permitted level of emissions were grossly exceeded over several months.

According to a statement from the Environment Agency, there is no evidence to suggest that environmental harm or harm to human health occurred as a result of the incident. However, there was potential for environmental harm and harm to nearby residents if such releases were allowed to continue for a prolonged period.