Accident at work leads electrical firm to a £2000 fine
An electrician has sustained burns to his face, wrists and hands after an ‘arc flashover’. A Dundee man Gordon Roberts, aged 38 at the time of the incident spent 9 days in hospital for treatment of his injuries on December 2nd 2010. McGill Electrical Ltd was fined a sum of £2,000 after the company admitted breaching Health and Safety legislations. An investigation carried out by the HSE concluded that the firm had broke legislation by failing to carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment. A safe working procedure for the removal and replacing of bolted covers should have been implemented along with a safe procedure to ensure that the electricity supply to the distribution boards was de-energised.
The incident occurred when Mr. Roberts had climbed up a step ladder to gain access to the live conductors; however, on maneuvering one of the bolted covers back into position when the testing was completed, one of the corners came in contact with live parts creating the flashover.
Despite Mr. Roberts not wearing the correct safety equipment required by the company, he was able to walk out of the substation unaided. The manufacturing firm’s safety manager whilst, waiting on the ambulance to arrive used snow in attempt to cool Mr. Robert’s burns.
Sheriff Brown despite fining the company described McGill Electrical as a “highly responsible company which delivers a nationally-respected system whilst giving the intensive training needed and providing significant safety measures including a direction instruction to don protective clothing.” Mr Mc Gill had taken precaution by providing him with protective clothing, which, Mr. Roberts decided to ignore. Sheriff Brown added, “This is a responsible company which holds a good safety record paying close attention to safety and after the accident took “dramatic” remedial action.