Company boss fined after gas explosion

THE managing director 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 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 the trial.

Mr Webster, was fined £22,500 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £2,500 as the hearing concluded on Monday, February 13.

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.”

However, Mr Webster said he was surprised at the HSE’s statement, arguing that he had successfully de-valved two cylinders prior to the one which released gas.

He added that his company had a previously unblemished safety record during itsa 30-year history where it had operated from two separate sites.

Mr Webster also said he was disappointed with both the verdict and the size of the fine, stating that it failed to take the company’s previous safety record into consideration.

He also said that HSE officials had taken almost three years to launch a prosecution, but that he was only given 11 days’ notice to prepare for court.

He added that he was considering an appeal.