A novice welder died when an oil drum exploded at family-run engineering firm, Exeter Crown Court heard.
Anthony Reed had only just started working at RJ Bateman, which makes crop spraying equipment when he was told to use a coolant drum as a makeshift workbench while he practised welding on 3 April 2006.
HSE Inspector Jo Fitzgerald said the firm had been reusing drums for all kinds of purposes. She said the employee had picked one that had been modified to catch excess "gun-wash", a powerful solvent used to clean paint-spray guns. At some point a spark ignited vapour in the drum, which hit Reed in the head, causing severe head injuries and he died in hospital eight days later.
The HSE’s investigation revealed a number of "very significant failings". "The company has no formalised system for health and safety at all", said Fitzgerald. "There was no safe system of work, no risk assessment, no health and safety training and the company had failed to supervise Reed’s work properly.
According to Fitzgerald, the directors were intimately involved with the company’s management and had done nothing to improve safety, so the HSE decided to prosecute Richard and John Bateman alongside the firm. Fitzgerald said it had grown from a very small business to a larger operation, but they had not updated their systems and were unfamiliar with good safety practises.
During the investigation, it emerged there had been a similar incident at the company a few years earlier and another significant accident, neither of which had been reported to the HSE.
Steve Panton for the prosecution said "This, quite clearly, was not an isolated incident". In 2005, a company employee had been making a barbecue out of a drum, when some flammable residue sparked and burned his hand. But management still assumed that washing the containers was adequate to remove any hazardous materials, such as fumes.
At Exeter Crown Court, RJ Bateman and its directors admitted failing to ensure Reed’s safety. The company was fined £45,000 and the directors were ordered to pay £10,000 each.
The firm also pleaded guilty to breaking Section 3(1) of the HSW Act and RIDDOR Regulation 3(1), for not ensuring the safety of a roofing contractor (who had fallen through a roof 12 months earlier), and failing to report the accident to the HSE. It was fined £15,000 and £5000 respectively. The court ordered the company to pay £67,000 in prosecution costs.