Companies face legal action over radon tests

TWELVE companies, including Paddy Power bookmakers, are to face criminal prosecution next month by the country’s nuclear watchdog over their alleged failure to conduct tests for the cancer-causing gas, radon.

The Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII) announced yesterday that it was to take legal action for the first time in relation to the failure of employers to comply with its directions to carry out measurements for the gas.

The RPII estimates that 200 people in the Republic develop lung cancer each year as a result of exposure to the naturally-occurring, colourless, odourless gas.