Retail company B&M were fined £1,000,000 after an electrician suffered serious burns to 15 per cent of his body when he was caught in an explosion at a warehouse in Liverpool.
The circumstances were:
- On 22 September 2018, an electrician was attempting to connect a generator to B&M’s Low Voltage supply in order to allow B&M to operate some of its core site functions whilst high voltage maintenance was being undertaken.
- This work was complex involving several contractors and required co-ordination of different working parties with specific time limited requirements.
- There was insufficient planning between parties beforehand including who was in charge of each site, coordination of work and exchange of relevant documentation.
- B&M failed to appoint a suitably competent person to plan and carry out the work to connect temporary generators to their distribution board at the premises.
- Electrical contractors Daker Ltd.’s work methods fell well below the required standards. Electrical work commenced without proper planning.
- The power supply to the circuit was not stopped prior to the incident and live working was allowed to take place.
- This meant that the power supply could be switched on or off at any point, putting workers at risk of electric shock.
- The electrician was using a metal spanner to repair an electrical fault at B&M Retail Ltd warehouse.
- The spanner he was using came into contact with a live busbar linked to the power distribution causing an electrical explosion.
No comments:
Post a Comment