TRANSCO PLC FINED £1 MILLION AFTER FATAL GAS EXPLOSION
20 Oct 2005 03:15 PM
Transco plc was today fined £1,000,000 and ordered to pay prosecution
costs of £134,000 at Manchester Crown Court, after pleading guilty to
breaching health and safety law. The case follows an investigation by
the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into a gas explosion at a
five-storey, residential building, Cavendish Mill, located in
Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester on 14 November 2001 in which
one of the residents, Ian Brady, was seriously injured and later
died.
Following the hearing, Giles Hyder, HSE investigating inspector,
said: "The explosion at Cavendish Mill, which led to Mr Brady's
death, highlights the importance of effective management arrangements
for dealing with high volume gas escapes into complex buildings.
Transco identified some of the voids where gas could accumulate; but
their identification and the fact that unusual void spaces are common
in converted buildings did not prompt Transco to carry out a more
thorough assessment of the building for similar spaces. This failure
led to the tragic consequences at Cavendish Mill."
Steve Denton, Principal Inspector in HSE's Hazardous Installations
Directorate, added: "Incidents such as this are uncommon but entirely
foreseeable. HSE will continue to work with Transco and gas
transporters to help them identify opportunities to improve their
emergency response procedures."
Transco pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 3(1) of the Health and
Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
The cause of the explosion was a leak of gas from a fractured mains
supply located in front of the Cavendish Mill building, but not
supplying it, that entered the block via void spaces below some of
the ground floor rooms and found a source of ignition.
When the gas escape was detected during the morning of the incident,
Transco evacuated Cavendish Mill. Throughout the day, Transco
engineers ventilated the building and carried out numerous tests of
individual flats using gas detectors to ensure any residual gas was
removed. However, Transco engineers failed to identify all voids in
the building, including ones under the ground floor flats at the
front and above ceilings, and did not test them for gas.
Shortly before 23:00 hrs Transco decided it was safe to allow the
residents to return. But as Ian Brady, a retired ambulance driver,
entered his room, gas in the room as well as gas in one of the voids
was ignited. He suffered serious burns in the explosion and died in
hospital four days later as a result of his injuries.
The subsequent HSE investigation revealed that not only did Ian
Brady's flat contain gas, but two voids below and above his flat also
contained significant quantities of gas immediately prior to the
explosion.
Notes to Editors
1. Transco pleaded guilty to Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at
Work etc Act 1974, in that the company failed to conduct its
undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as was reasonably
practicable, that persons not in its employment, namely residents of
Cavendish Mill, including Ian Brady, were not exposed to risk to
their health and safety arising from Transco's action in dealing with
the escape of gas from the medium pressure gas main in the vicinity
of Cavendish Mill.
2. Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974
requires every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as
to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in
his employment who may be affected by his undertaking are not as a
result exposed to risks to their health or safety.
PUBLIC ENQUIRIES: HSE InfoLine, tel: 0845 345 0055, visit:
www.hse.gov.uk/contact or write to: HSE InfoLine, Caerphilly Business
Park, Caerphilly CF83 3GG.
HSE information and press releases can be accessed on the Internet:
www.hse.gov.uk/
Ends