The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted refinery and petrochemical company Ineos Manufacturing Scotland Ltd for failing to ensure a safe system of work was in place before undertaking excavation work near live electrical cables.
A subcontractor needed hospital treatment for burns to his hands and face after he struck two live 3,300-volt cables with a powered breaking tool known as a Jackhammer on 3 November 2006.
The subcontractor and his colleagues were widening an existing cable trench containing several live electrical cables at the time of the incident.
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Ineos Manufacturing Scotland Ltd of Bo'ness Road, Grangemouth, pleaded guilty to breaching regulation 4(3) of the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 and was fined £1500 at Falkirk Sheriff Court on 20 October.
HSE Inspector Dr Heather Gates said: "The men are lucky to be alive following this terrible incident, which could easily have been prevented. This type of work requires careful planning and management in order to avoid danger.
"Ineos Manufacturing Scotland Ltd and contractors should have conducted an adequate risk assessment before work started. They were aware of the live cables but underestimated the risks associated with working so close to them.
"They did not give sufficient consideration to the option of isolating the cables, nor could they justify why the electricity supply was not isolated."
Dr Gates stated that Ineos did not use other measures to minimise the risks to staff, such as using digging techniques that would not have damaged cables
"I hope this case will remind companies how important it is for electrical work to be properly planned and implemented. Without proper planning employers are putting workers' lives of at risk," he concluded.
Around 1,000 people are injured every year from electric shocks while at work in the UK, and about 25 people die from their injuries.
(GK/BMcC)
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