Derbyshire firms prosecuted for hand arm vibration offences
28th April 2016
HSE Guidance L65 – Third edition
4th May 2016

Yorkshire Water fined £1.1million

Yorkshire Water has been fined £1.1million for illegally discharging sewage that polluted the River Ouse near York. The sewage had overflowed into the river because of a pump failure at the treatment works.

At the time of the incident, when one of the pumps failed, the backup was not operational. It has been out of use for five months – a breach of the firm’s environmental permit.

With only two pumps working, sewage flowed into emergency storage tanks, filled them up, and approximately 6,000 cubic metres of sewage overflowed through an old outfall into the river, at a location where discharges are not permitted.