St Helens man sentenced over gas explosion

Date:

14 February 2012

Release No:

HSE/NW/12Webster

The Managing Director of a St Helens gas supply firm has appeared in court after he and an employee suffered multiple burns in an explosion.

The North West Gases building in St Helens following the explosion

John Webster was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after he and another worker received burns to their faces, hands and legs at North West Gases Ltd. A third employee sustained minor injuries in the explosion, which lifted the roof off the building on Alma Street in St Helens.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that Mr Webster, 55, and another worker, who has asked not to be named, had been attempting to remove the valve on an LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) cylinder on 10 April 2008.

The HSE investigation found Mr Webster, whose company provides LPG for a range of uses including powering forklift trucks, had failed to ensure the cylinder was empty and there was no ignition source present before starting work.

Subsequently, gas escaped from the cylinder and ignited. The resulting fire and explosion set Mr Webster's clothing on fire and his employee was thrown across the building.

Both men were treated in a specialist burns unit and the employee suffered post-traumatic stress disorder. A third man who was working outside the workshop also suffered minor injuries.

John Webster was found guilty of a breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by failing to take reasonable care of himself and his employees, following a trial at Liverpool Crown Court. Mr Webster, of Archer Grove in St Helens, was fined £22,500 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £2,500 on 13 February 2012.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Warren Pennington said:

"Mr Webster's failure to carry out even the most basic of safety checks led to what was an entirely preventable incident.

"He failed to ensure that the cylinder was empty and didn't check for any potential sources of ignition in the building, any of which could have caused this explosion.

"In this case, the fact that no one was killed was simply down to luck."

Information on the safe use of LPG is available at www.hse.gov.uk/gas.

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. Section 7(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states: "It shall be the duty of every employee while at work to take reasonable care for the health and safety of himself and of other persons who may be affected by his acts or omissions at work."

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