Firm fined £50,000 after two men suffered severe burns in factory blast

There had been a systematic failure to follow health and safety law by CISM Ltd, the firm that employed them, ruled a judge.

Freelance electrician David Spooner was not qualified for the job but the company made no attempt to check his competence before recruiting him to strip out switch gear from the substation without permission, revealed Mr Alexander Stein, prosecuting.

Mr Spooner , who wrongly believed all the high voltage cabling had been turned off, thought the transformer he was working on with supervisor Ian Parker had been isolated. In fact two of the cables were wired up to another piece of equipment at the former McKechnie Brass site in Middlemore Lane, Aldridge, the court heard.

"One was dead but, as he was telling Mr Parker that the other was live, it exploded," continued Mr Stein who added: "Mr Parker said the whole room turned yellow and there was a loud buzzing noise. He saw Mr Spooner was on fire and did what he could."

Workers outside the substation heard a loud bang and saw the two men coming out with their overalls alight. Both were kept in an induced coma at hospital - Mr Parker for 17 days and Mr Spooner for ten - and have suffered life changing injuries involving over 30 per cent burns. They have had skin grafts and face significant medical issues in the future.

Mr Spooner reckoned the power was 450 volts when it was up to 6,600 volts and the force of the explosion was sufficient to light 17,000 single bar electric fires, explained Mr Stein. No sign indicated the true voltage.

CISM Ltd, based in Kings Heath, Birmingham, was working as a sub contractor on the decommissioning and stripping out of the factory and was allowed to sell copper wiring it removed in lieu of payment for the job.

It was not allowed to take cabling from the substation where the blast happened but went ahead regardless without assessing the potential hazard or preparing its workers to deal with the risk, the court was told.

The company, with a £200,000-a-year turnover, admitted it did not plan, manage and monitor work under its control in a way which ensured it was carried out without risk to health and safety on September 11 2014.

Recorder Barry Berlin fined it £50,000 with £7,800 costs and declared: "There was a systematic failure to follow health and safety law and, as a consequence, two men suffered life-threatening injuries and have been scarred both physically and mentally.

"Mr Spooner was not qualified for the job. He is not to blame. This required detailed planning and properly qualified staff but CISM Ltd fell well below the standard that it was reasonable to expect. This was an accident waiting to happen."