Firm fined after worker burned

Date:

2 September 2010

Release No:

HSE/EM/66/10

A company has today been fined £10,000 after a worker received 60 per cent burns following an explosion at a Nottingham factory.

The 33-year-old welder from llkeston, who has asked not to be named,was working for Fluorocarbon Bakeware Systems Ltd, which manufactures industrial bakeware, on 16 December 2008 at its unit in Beeston.

Nottingham Magistrates Court heard that the worker was cutting metal, when a spark ignited vapours from a nearby can of thinner. The can exploded, showering him with hot liquid.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which brought the prosecution against Fluorocarbon Bakeware Systems, found that although flammable liquids were stored correctly in other parts of the site, there was no provision for the storage of the thinners in this area and that no risk assessment had been carried out.

HSE inspector Sian Tiernan said:

"This incident was entirely preventable had simple precautions been taken. This must have been a terrifying incident for the worker, and it was only by chance that his colleague had left the work area a few moments earlier otherwise he too could have been injured.

"HSE's investigation showed that there was little in the way of direct supervision of the work and no risk assessment was undertaken for the activities carried out in the workshop.

"Thinner is highly flammable and a risk assessment should have shown how it should have been stored safety. No appropriate store was provided for the thinners and the designated storage area was too close to the work area, with terrible results."

Fluorocarbon Bakeware Systems Ltd of Caxton Hill, Hertford, pleaded guilty to contravening regulations 5(1) and 6(1) of the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002 and was fined £10,000 at Nottingham Magistrates' Court. It was also ordered to pay costs of £5,227.

Notes to editors

1. The Health and Safety Executive is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice; promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice; and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk
2. Regulation 5(1) of the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002 states: "Where a dangerous substance is or is liable to be present at the workplace, the employer shall make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to his employees which arise from that substance".
3. Regulation 6(1) of the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002 states: "Every employer shall ensure that risk is either eliminated or reduced so far as is reasonably practicable".

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