Celsa Manufacturing (UK) Ltd will now be paying the price for its risk assessment failure that proved fatal to two engineering workers nearly four years ago.
The company, which at Cardiff Crown Court pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, has been fined £1.8 million and ordered to pay costs of £145,771.85 following the deadly explosion at its rod and bar mill in November 2015.
Electrical engineer Peter O’Brien and mechanical engineer Mark Sim were working on an accumulator vessel in the basement of the firm’s steelworks site in Cardiff when the blast took place. It killed the two and also seriously injured fellow employee Darren Wood.
According to Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) probe, Celsa failed to gauge the threats faced by workers while draining lubrication oil from the accumulator.
“This incident, which had devastating consequences for all of those involved, was entirely preventable,” commented HSE inspector Lee Schilling. “The company failed to assess the risks of the maintenance work and identify suitable control measures to prevent an explosion.”
O’Brien was aged 51 while Sim was 41 years old at the time of the blast.
