Two companies have been fined more than £2.4 million for health and safety offences that led to the deaths of two pest controllers at a chicken factory.
Neil Moon, 49, from Spalding, and 34-year-old Jonathan 'Jon' Collins, from Watton, suffocated following a build up of nitrogen in a narrow passageway at Banham Poultry in Attleborough in October 2018.
Norwich Crown Court heard they had died after a gas exhaust pipe had unknowingly fallen from the roof of the factory into the passageway killing both workers who had entered as part of their work eradicating rodents.
The “extreme low temperatures” from the gas meant the area where their bodies were found was frozen.
Banham Poultry Limited and Air Products Plc, which oversaw work to install the pipe ducts, both pleaded guilty to the health and safety offences.
Mrs Justice Judith Farbey fined Air Products a total of £2,475,000 after finding a “serious failure” over repair work not being inspected and monitored.
It was also ordered to pay over £83,000 in court courts.
Banham Poultry, which went into administration the day after the deaths owing 533 creditors more than £6m, was fined a “nominal sum” of just £900.
The judge said the fine would have been “substantially” higher had the company not ceased to exist, adding this would be “no comfort to the families of the victims of Banham’s serious offending”.
She said: “This court has heard the eloquent and brave personal impact statements of family members. Each describes in heartbreaking but eloquent detail the lasting impact.”
The court had been told of the “deep grief felt on a daily basis” of the loved ones including Mr Moon’s wife Gillian who had been 17 weeks pregnant at the time of his death.
Mrs Justice Farbey said the Banham Poultry had been guilty of “systematic failures” to address the health and safety risks from nitrogen.
The company had failed to put in place regular safety inspections of the pipe ducts despite knowing they were a temporary fix while it planned to relocate its chicken chilling system inside the factory.
The judge said Air Products had employed a “long-standing and trusted” subcontractor to carry out alterations to the pipe ducts.
But she added: “It ought to have been obvious work done on the factory work should have been inspected and monitored”.
The court was told the company had an impeccable previous safety record and had put in place steps to address how it carries out work involving nitrogen in future.
Both firms could now face compensation claims in the civil courts after the conclusion of the criminal cases against them.
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