Firm fined over unsafe boilers
GUESTS at a hotel in Lytham St Annes were put at risk from unsafe gas boilers for nearly two years, a court has heard.
North West Mechanicals (NWML) and a senior manager at the firm were prosecuted for safety failings by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after two new industrial boilers were installed at the Glendower Hotel between November 2009 and March 2010.
The Poulton-le-Fylde company, which is now in liquidation, was owned by John and Lynsey Broughton.
Following a trial at Blackpool Magistrates’ Court, the firm has been fined £20,000 and ordered to pay costs of £11,247 while contracts manager David Hanmer, 67, was given two concurrent eight-week prison sentences suspended for 12 months and ordered to pay costs of £8,900.
The court heard the company had no previous experience of installing industrial boilers and was not on the Gas Safe Register – the official list for gas engineers – when it began the work.
It was paid just over £43,000 to replace the boilers despite not being registered or having any qualified employees who could carry out the work. The court was told the firm did become registered in March 2010 – partway through the boiler installation – but only to carry out domestic gas work. However, the firm was still not qualified or registered for commercial work.
Once the company had finished installing the boilers, it arranged for a specialist engineer employed by the manufacturer to commission them. He raised concerns that the boilers had not been satisfactorily ventilated but, despite this, NWML still issued a certificate to the hotel to say the boilers were safe to use.
When a registered gas engineer from another company visited the hotel in September 2011 to carry out a routine service, he identified several faults with the installation and immediately disconnected the boilers.
NWML was found guilty of single breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998.
