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HSE prosecutes Aberdeen company after worker suffers burns (7 April 2015)

Date: 07/04/2015
Duncan Lewis, Personal Injury Solicitors, HSE prosecutes Aberdeen company after worker suffers burns

An Aberdeen-based company has been prosecuted by the health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an employee was seriously injured after suffering burns to his back and hands in a flash fire.

Norman Thomson, from Rothienorman in Aberdeenshire was working for Ravenhill Limited when the incident occurred.

Mr Thomson – who was aged 49 at the time of the incident in January 2011 – was investigating smoke coming from the edges of a shed at the company’s premises. He was caught in a flashover as he opened the door to the shed, where a pressure washer was located.

HSE investigators were told that, as Mr Thomson pulled open the door, dense smoke inside ignited and he was burned as a flash fire swept over him.
Colleagues extinguished the flames on Mr Thomson’s back and helped him to place his hands in cold water.

However, he was in hospital for eight days and was unable to return to work for two months. Mr Thomson experienced ongoing trauma and had an additional period off work in 2014.

The HSE investigation found that Ravenhill Limited did have a written safe working procedure for the pressure washer – and had previously had access to the manufacturer’s instructions, both of which emphasised the need for it to be only used in a well-ventilated area.

However, the company had failed to identify that the location of the pressure washer in the shed had inadequate ventilation and was therefore unsafe.

The shed had no means of extraction – and the only ventilation available was to prop the door open or rely on the pressure wash hose to stop it closing.

Inspectors also found that freezing of the lance and hose of the pressure washer was a known problem amongst the workshop staff – and there was no safe system of work for defrosting them in cold weather.

As a result, unsafe working practices had developed – including boiling kettles of water and pouring them over the lance and hose; or the method used on the morning of the incident – disconnecting the lance and hose and using the hot water from the pressure washer itself.

At Peterhead Sheriff Court on Tuesday, 30 March, Ravenhill Limited of Moycroft, Elgin in Moray was fined £6,666, after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

Following the hearing, HSE Principal Inspector Niall Miller, said:

“This was an entirely avoidable incident. The need for ventilation to prevent such incidences of combustion is well known and was acknowledged and documented by the company itself.

“Making sure this happened would have been straightforward.

“Sadly, the failure of Ravenhill to follow its own written risk management led to an employee suffering burn injuries and trauma as a result of poor planning.”

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