Diageo Fined Over $600K After Scotch Distillery Employee Suffers Severe Burns From Boiling Ale

Diageo (Photo: Pavlo Gonchar / SOPA Images/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)

The Northern Scot reported on Monday that Diageo is being fined £537,500 ($681,500) after a broken valve sprayed boiling ale all over an employee named Michael Thompson at the brand’s Glenlossie Distillery.

Thompson spent two weeks in intensive care and some time in an induced coma after the accident occurred in March 2021. The Health and Safety Executive shut down the distillery to inspect the broken valve at the facility.

“Awful as the circumstances were in this incident, they could have been significantly worse,” Sheriff Aitken said, according to The Northern Scot. “It showed that the pump was closed when it was open. The valves on the pump were checked that they were closed but it was not noticed that one had been incorrectly fitted.”

Sheriff Aitkenl said the boiling ale had a temperature of 104 degrees centigrade, which is 219.2 degrees Fahrenheit.

The outlet reported that Thompson had to take six months off work and then retire over a year later. The Sheriff said that Thompson cannot expose any injuries to sunlight and has to use a moisturizer after bathing his body.

Representatives for Diageo took immediate responsibility for Thompson’s injuries.

“The company pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and this should be regarded as an isolated incident,” Diageo’s lawyer, Peter Gray KC, said in a statement.

Diageo is the major spirits supplier behind brands like Johnnie Walker, Tanqueray, Cîroc and Captain Morgan.

The Spirits Business reports that Diageo’s sales were flat as July drew to a close, and in November the spirits giant paused construction of its $176 million Crown Royal Distillery in Canada.

“Given the dynamic nature of our broader business and our emphasis on productivity, we have decided to pause the development of our facility in Lambton County’s St Clair Township,” Diageo said regarding the pause in construction. “We will be revisiting plans and timeline at a later date as part of our regular review of investments and priorities across our supply chain footprint.”