Production at the Carlsberg factory located in Bridge Street, Northampton has remained at a standstill following an ammonia leak last month, as a result of which a worker was killed.
The gas leak, which took place on 9 November, led to the death of David Chandler, 45, as well as the injury of nine other workers, including staff from Carlsberg and emergency services personnel. It has been confirmed that a joint Police and Health and Safety Executive investigation is to continue over the next few weeks.
The leak at the factory happened as a result of what was described as a 'serious safety incident' and, at the time was confirmed as being limited to the Carlsberg UK site with no wider risk to members of the public located outside the site.
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A statement released by Carlsberg at the time of the incident read: "We are deeply saddened to confirm that there was one fatality as a result of the incident. Our thoughts are with the individual's family, friends and colleagues at this very difficult time. The Police have confirmed to us that one individual working on site remains in a serious but stable condition in hospital.
"A further ten individuals working on site, and a further 11 members of the emergency services, were also taken to hospital and subsequently released. There is currently an ongoing investigation on site, being led by the authorities. Production on site has been temporarily stopped, and has been since the time of the incident
The specific location of the incident within the brewery will remain under the control of the authorities until the investigation is concluded. Control of the wider brewery site has now been passed back to Carlsberg UK by the authorities.
"A site recovery plan is in place and will be put into action in a phased and controlled manner where we are able to do so. Plans are also in place and have been activated to source beer from within the wider Carlsberg Group for the UK market."
Julian Momen, chief executive officer, Carlsberg UK said that the business was "now focusing on assisting the authorities with their investigation so that we can understand what happened.
"We have also put in place the necessary plans to re-start aspects of production on the site, but we will only do this at the appropriate time and in a controlled manner. We will continue to provide further updates as matters progress."
