Reputable chemical manufacturing plants in the UK have to uphold the highest standards of health and safety these days. However, this was not the case several years ago, with families of workers at a Scottish site revealing the risks of chromium exposure were well-known to everyone.
Despite this, bosses at J&J White’s of Rutherglen, south of Glasgow, did little to protect their employees at the chemical site, Herald Scotland revealed.
Relatives of those who worked there told the news provider that staff had ‘chrome holes’, which were burns in their skin, as well as nasal passages destroyed by the chromium.
“My dad used it as a party trick. His septum was ruined and so his nose made a whistling noise,” Alison Tait revealed.
Her father died in 1966 at 51 years old from lung cancer, which she believes could have been related to his dangerous work on the chemical site.
Ms Tait noted that many other males from the area who had worked at the plant died young, but there was ‘no evidence’ at the time to accuse J&J White directly.
The company emptied tonnes of its waste products in the Rutherglen and Polmadie area over the years, including Chromium VI. This has destroyed 30 acres of land, as well as contaminated the Clyde through local water passages. Polmadie Burn was so affected by the compound that it recently turned green.
Chromium VI is notorious for its poisonous and carcinogenic properties. While being extremely useful in chemical manufacturing, as it is utilised in stainless steel production, as catalysts for chemical processes, in electroplating, as pigments for paints, and in leather tanning agents, it can cause considerable harm to those exposed to it.
According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), breathing in its dust, touching it, or swallowing it can cause inflammation of the lungs, kidney damage, holes in the septum, and even lung cancer.