Health and safety audit and fine for worker burns
A company located in Totton will be fined for an employee incident. The worker has suffered from burns due to a propane gas tank at the company director’s home. The worker was 29 at the time of the 2011 incident. He was working on cutting the top off the tank when he suffered burns on his torso, abdomen, and left arm. He was using a disc cutter that created a spark setting the gases on fire. The worker had to take three weeks off from work and was only able to return for light duties for the month afterwards.
The HSE looked into the issue with health and safety audits. They found the tank was not empty and therefore not safe to be worked on with a disc cutter. Proper workstation risk assessments were not completed. The employee also had no information, training, or instruction for the job. This led to him suffering damaging injuries.
The director was also cited as not having the knowledge regarding the work allowing workers to be around hazards, including the propane gas, without proper supervision or training. The director was fined £2,000 and £2,400 in court costs. The incident would not have occurred with proper precautions, training, and assessments. The fine and the injuries could have been avoided. This is why the court decided that the director’s company needed to be fined. If a duty of care had been present, the incident would not have occurred.
