The boss of a St Helens gas supply firm has been fined £22,500 after he and an employee suffered multiple burns in an explosion.
John Webster, director of North West Gases Ltd, had been attempting to remove the valve on an LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) cylinder on 10 April, 2008 when it ignited. The resulting fire left Mr Webster and another worker with burns to their faces, hands and legs. A third employee who was working outside the workshop sustained minor injuries in the explosion, which lifted the roof off the building.
The Health and Safety and Executive (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.
Following a trial at Liverpool Crown Court, Mr Webster was found guilty of breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by failing to take reasonable care of himself and his employees and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £2,500, in addition to a fine of £22,500.
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."
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