WEST BABYLON, NY – The owner of a New York thermometer factory was sentenced Friday to three years' probation for failing to protect workers who were exposed to dangerous levels of mercury following a leak at his plant.
Robert Peyser, 66, of Bellmore, Long Island, and his company, Kessler Thermometer Corp., previously pleaded guilty in a Suffolk County court to reckless endangerment for exposing employees to mercury and failing to provide adequate ventilation or protective equipment.
The charges stemmed from an Aug. 29, 2022, mercury leak at Kessler's West Babylon facility, the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office said.
Four workers were diagnosed with mercury poisoning in the following weeks, prosecutors said.
Because of the exposure, one of the employees had to have a pacemaker installed and another still requires an oxygen tank to support his breathing, officials said.
“Kessler Thermometer Corp.” “Knowingly endangered the life and health of its employees by ignoring basic safety precautions to control hazardous mercury in the workplace and by failing to acknowledge that its employees had become ill due to mercury exposure,” said Kevin Sullivan, area director for the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration Occupational Safety and Health Administration said in a statement.
Peyser and the company both pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment on Oct. 18. The company was ordered to pay $75,000 in fines, in addition to a $97,000 civil penalty for OSHA violations.
Peyser was sentenced Friday to probation and ordered to comply with all state and federal health and safety standards.
A message seeking comment was sent to Michael J. Brown, the attorney representing both Peyser and the company.
Exposure to mercury, a neurotoxin, can cause damage to the nervous system, lungs, kidneys, heart and mental abilities.
Governments meeting at the Minamata Mercury Convention in Kumamoto, Japan, in 2013 set a phase-out date for mercury thermometer manufacturing in 2020.