Mine operator fined £3.6m
CONTRACTORS SUFFERED SERIOUS BURNS IN INCIDENTS
MINE operator Cleveland Potash has been fined more than £3m after electrical explosions left workers with serious burns – with one spending weeks in intensive care.
Teesside Crown Court heard how a subcontractor was thrown to the ground, suffered severe burns and lay with hands ablaze after an ‘arc flash’ of the 11,000-volt feed which should have been dead.
It was the first of two incidents which left workers injured and Judge Jonathan Carroll said it was a “simply a matter of chance” that there were no fatalities.
The company pleaded guilty to a string of breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act in relation to two separate incidents which occurred at Boulby mine, near Loftus, in 2016 and 2019. Subcontracting electricians Tom Moulton and Thomas Dixon were both left with severe burns to their faces, necks and hands while working at the site and led to the prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive.
The HSE found deficiencies from the owner of the mine in risk assessment, planning of works, and shortfalls in providing warnings about which parts of the electrical systems the two electricians were working on remained live.
During sentencing yesterday, the court heard how, in 2016, upgrades were planned to the mine’s substation and 21 circuit breakers ahead of a move to polyhalite production.
Power from each circuit break was delivered to a copper bar that carried 11,000 volts and was then distributed. For any work to be done, the circuit breaker had to be powered down, however, power to the mine had to be maintained at all times for safety reasons – with systems put in place to bypass certain circuit breakers.
Tom Moulton, an experienced electrician, and his colleague Trevor Dolling, who were subcontractors of Schneider which had been commissioned for the project, were working in the substation on August 3, 2016.
The two subcontractors were “wholly unaware” that the bar was still live and Mr Dolling had reached his hand into the circuit and was within inches of three live 11,000volt feeds.
Mr Moulton, who was working similarly at another breaker, noticed the area was dirty and reached in with a vacuum to clean the area – but in touching the live feeds it sparked an explosion known as an “arc flash”.
An arc flash creates hot burning gases, molten metal, shrapnel-like debris. The electrician “took the full force” of the explosion and was thrown from the height of 1.6m to the ground below. The court heard how workers saw he had severe burns to his face and arms and his “hands were on fire”.
“The incident clearly risked death and had Mr Moulton [directly] touched the live feed death by electrocution would have been inevitable,” said Judge Jonathan Carroll.
“He suffered very severed burns across approximately 20% of his body – focused on head, face arms and hands”.
Mr Moulton was airlifted to a specialist burns unit in Newcastle and placed in an induced coma for 10 days. He suffered respiratory track infections, underwent skin grafts, suffered from night terrors, was left permanently disfigured and, although he has returned to work, remains office based.
Heavy criticism was placed on Schneider’s project management by Cleveland Potash’s defence but Judge Carroll dismissed this saying the central failings were “only and completely, at all times, within the responsibility of Cleveland Potash Limited (CPL) and those duties and responsibilities were not such that they could be contracted out to any other party.”
Cleveland Potash’s defence relied on their criticism of Schneider’s project management, but Judge Jonathan Carroll dismissed their argument and asserted that the “central failings” were under the responsibility and control of the mine.
He laid out findings that there was no individual in the role of system control with overall responsibility for the project until nine months later and that crucial information about live feeds had not been given to contractors – stating that subcontractors cannot carry out risk assessments on something they are not aware of.
The company, which is a huge employer in the area, had not carried out it’s own risk assessments and documents stated the circuit breakers were “dead, isolated and safe” when this was not the case.
Judge Carroll described the company’s actions as a “mere process rather than a safety critical measure”.
Second arc flash over
two years later
On February 12, 2019, Thomas Dixon was working in the motor control system, where each cubicle had a lockable isolator – although this only made the outgoing current dead. The incoming current remained live but could be overridden to achieve total isolation, which Cleveland Potash had an obligation to do.
An enhanced electrical protection system, which would reduce the overall risk of an arc flash or reduce the power of any that did occur, should have been in place.
However, it was discovered that this system had never been connected by Cleveland Potash and was “wholly non-functioning” at the time nor had it ever functioned, the court heard.
Mr Dixon had “limited isolation training” and had no training for the specific task at hand.
After working at the rear of the cubicle, he took a short break before returning to work on the front of the cubicle – as he did so he “made a simple human error”.
Judge Carroll said: “As he reached in and tested the earth, he forgot he was now working on the mirror image of the work he had done in the rear and reached for the live line – which could and ought to have been isolated – thereby triggering an arc flash.”
He suffered severe burns to 8% of
his body, hands face and neck, needed daily dressing and was hospitalised for six days. He has fortunately made a full recovery.
Judge Carroll said there was no risk assessment, no supervision or safe system of work for the installation, the MCC had safety critical defects, inadequate labouring and no appropriate PPE.
In sentencing, the court heard how Cleveland Potash had no previous convictions, although it does not have an unblemished record.
‘Not an unblemished record’
The company had been subject to previous enforcement and improvement notices from HSE including from another arc flash which was attributed to equipment failure and an underground shunting engines incident, for which a caution was accepted.
At the time of the second incident, proceedings were under way into the first arc flash – for which Cleveland Potash pleaded guilty too shortly afterwards the February 2019 incident.
Having outlined mitigating factors, including the company’s work in the community and a latter by chairman Andrew Fulton, Judge Carroll fined the company a total of £3.6m and ordered the company to pay £185,000 court costs.
“I accept the company is genuinely remorseful in relation to each of these incidents,” said Judge Carroll. I accept that this is not a company that displays a cavalier attitude to health and safety.
“Mining is a highly complex and dangerous undertaking. The company had systems in place to address very many aspects of the inherent dangers faced by employees and contractors.
“However this case has identified significant deficiencies which were longstanding. Nevertheless I accept that post these incidents there has been reinvigorating of the old health and safety environment, in part generated by the employment of new staff to take on the task and positively encouraged by Mr Fulton. I am able to conclude that the health and safety system now is wholly improved from that which prevailed during these two cases.”
After the sentencing, HSE specialist regulatory principal inspector Paul Bradley said: “These serious electrical incidents were easily preventable. CPL should have had a heightened awareness of electrical risks following the first incident in 2016, however failures to apply learnings and to adequately control risks resulted in the 2019 incident”.
“Employers should make sure they properly assess and apply effective control measures to minimise risks when working on electrical systems.”
Cleveland Potash response
A spokesperson for the company said: “In pleading guilty to the prosecutions brought by the Health and Safety Executive in regard to the two arc flash incidents in 2016 and 2019, we deeply regret the circumstances and particularly the injuries suffered by the two contractors working on our site.
“We have learned important lessons from these incidents, both from our own investigations and the findings of the Health and Safety Executive and have undertaken a number of significant actions aimed at further strengthening our procedures, creating a robust and safe working environment and avoiding any repeat of such incidents.
“This has included a full review of our maintenance strategy, involving the development of a major hazard inventory and risk assessment process.
“This has resulted in an extensive revision of maintenance schemes, including enhanced periodic testing and inspection regimes.
“In addition, we continue to invest in new improved equipment to protect against the potential hazard posed by releases of arc flash energy, as well as improved Personal Protective Equipment to provide greater levels of personal protection.
“The changes and improvements we have made are designed to ensure that safety is central to the culture of the company at every level.
“We take our responsibilities seriously and with our employees, their representatives, contractors, technical experts, the Health and Safety Executive and the industry as a whole, we are working to build a safe, certain and sustainable future for the Boulby Operation.”