476 – Doomwatch – Public Enemy

When inadequate safety protocols at a factory in a small industrial town lead to the death of a child, the events set in motion are about to make a new public enemy. Simon and Eugene discuss the Doomwatch episode, Public Enemy. Episode Synopsis: In the town of Carlingham a healthy young boy kicks a football onto the roof of a factory.  With the help of a neighbor, he climbs to the top to retrieve the ball.  In seconds, he is dying, unable to breathe. [expand title=”More…” swaptitle=”Less” tag=”strong”] Doomwatch are soon called in by a local Alderman, Mr. Paine.  He’s been asking Doomwatch to check out the local metallurgical plant, Carlingham Alloys, which he thinks is a health hazard to the town.  Now that a child has died, they finally agree.  Quist even thinks they should have checked it out earlier. Geoff Hardcastle studied at school with Tony Lewis, chief metallurgist at the facility.  Lewis is a driven hothead.  Just exactly the kind of guy who would skimp on safety of he could achieve his goal.  Lewis is working on a new, super-secret and potentially highly valuable material, Superstar – an enhancement of their previous material Omnistar. As Quist’s team investigate, the plant discover the boy’s cause of death.  His football broke an exhaust pipe on the roof, which vented beryllium vapor, killing the boy.  Safety procedures were in place, but they were not adequate to prevent this from happening.  Lewis reminds everyone that the boy was trespassing and had no right to be on the roof. Soon thereafter, another worker dies, from the same thing.  This time in a different place.  Again, safety procedures were in place, but we’re quite up to the job. The shop union foreman would be happier if Doomwatch would make some suggestions for the safety of the plant, and management is entirely onboard.  Only Lewis maintains that their precautions are good enough. Doomwatch make their suggestions, and the plant manager assures them he’ll get head office to go along with it.  Everyone is happy, until the head office decides to close down the plant rather than foot the £100,000 renovation bill.  The plant just isn’t profitable enough.  All the workers will be relocated to Leicester, given new company housing and work in their state-of-the-art safe factory. Except nobody wants that.  Alderman Paine is a local businessman who runs grocery stores and dry cleaners, and he’ll be economically stressed.  The families don’t want to leave.  The union workers don’t want to go, but neither do the want to be laid off for six months if the renovations get done. Quist and Doomwatch are now the public enemy and are called before a stakeholders meeting to be raked over the coals. Quist stands his ground:  He offers some alternate suggestions, all of which would mean some pain for some segments, and are rejected.  They ask the government to pay, but the taxpayers won’t have that. Quist boils it down to a simple point: Everyone wants a cleaner world, but nobody wants to pay for it. [/expand]