26/07/2011

Ballymena Cigs Factory Accident Probed

An investigation is under way after a man was injured in an industrial accident in Ballymena yesterday.

Machinery fell on the man as it was being serviced. The accident happened around 10am on Monday at the JTI cigarette plant in the town and he remains critically ill in hospital after the incident at the plant - that was formerly known as the Gallaher cigarette factory.

The man was taken to Antrim Area Hospital but later transferred to the Ulster Hospital in Belfast for specialised treatment.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Health and Safety Executive for NI confirmed that an investigation had begun.

"The circumstances surrounding this particular incident are under investigation and HSENI is unable to comment further at this time," the statement said.

JTI - Japan Tobacco International is the international tobacco business of Japan Tobacco Inc and a leading international tobacco product manufacturer, with a global market share of almost 10%.

The company was formed in 1999 when Japan Tobacco Inc. purchased the international tobacco operations of the US multinational R.J.Reynolds.

In 2007, Gallaher, a FTSE 100 business, was acquired by Japan Tobacco Inc. for £9.4 billion. At the time, this was the largest foreign acquisition by a Japanese company.

In 2009, the JT Group acquired part of the worldwide business of Tribac Leaf Limited (a company that trades tobacco in Africa), as well as two Brazilian companies active in the tobacco business, Kannenberg and KBH&C.

In the same year, the JT Group also set up JTI Leaf Services, a joint venture with two leaf suppliers in the US - Hail & Cotton Inc. and JEB International.

(BMcC/GK)

Related Northern Ireland News Stories
Click here for the latest headlines.

16 October 2002
Smuggled cigarettes seized at Belfast International Airport
Customs Officers have netted around 300,000 cigarettes in an operation at Belfast International Airport (BIA) carried out this morning. Customs assisted by police detected the cigarettes on flights arriving from Spain and the Canary Islands, a haul which would have amounted to approximately £50,000 in lost revenue.
21 July 2023
New Powers To Tackle Illicit Tobacco Market
With more than 27 million illicit cigarettes and 7,500kg of hand-rolling tobacco seized in the first two years of Operation CeCe, new powers have been announced to help tackle the illicit tobacco market and reduce tobacco duty fraud.
01 October 2010
UCF Welcomes Tobacco Sales Move
A leading NI cancer charity has welcomed news that regulations to control point-of-sale advertising for tobacco products and ban sales from vending machines in Northern Ireland have eventually gone to public consultation.
01 September 2008
No Smoke Without 'Fine': Tobacco Ban On Under 18s
It is now illegal in Northern Ireland to sell tobacco products to anyone under the age of 18. The change in the law came into effect today as part of the drive by NI Health Minister Michael McGimpsey to reduce the level of smoking in young people.
27 October 2004
Sandy Row tobacco plant to close
Over 60 jobs look set to go with the closure of a pipe tobacco plant in south Belfast it emerged today. The owners of Murray and Sons said it was proposing to close its plant on Sandy Row with the loss of 63 jobs because of “a fall in global demand for pipe tobacco as well as rising costs”.