Danger of wood mill explosion was warned of just months before tragedy

THE risk of a “devastating” explosion at a wood mill was warned of just months before a blast which killed four workers, a court has heard.

Cleaner Dorothy Bailey, 62, maintenance fitter Derek William Barks (known as Will), 51, mill worker Derek Moore, 62, and chargehand Jason Shingler, 38, died when an explosion of wood dust destroyed the Wood Treatment Ltd mill in Bosley, Cheshire, on July 17, 2015.

Yesterday, the second day of a trial at the Nightingale court at Chester Town Hall, a jury heard a report was made in April 2015, following a visit to the mill for insurance purposes by risk analyst Richard Parslow from Zurich Financial Services.

Tony Badenoch QC, prosecuting, said the report called for action to be taken by July 1 to implement a rolling programme of cleaning to remove a build-up of wood dust, which could be a “significant explosion hazard”.

The report said: “Whilst normal business operations do not result in significant dust explosions, there is a risk that a small explosion, or other disturbance, may cause settled dusts to become airborne, perhaps in sufficient concentration to provide an explosive mixture. Typically, ‘secondary’ explosions are devastating.”

Mr Badenoch told the court: “This case is concerned with a secondary explosion which was devastating.

He said the report was seen by mill owner and safety director George Boden, who is charged with four counts of manslaughter, and on July 1 a document called a Site Cleaning Works Instruction was produced.

But, Mr Badenoch said, whether practices on site changed following the report was a different matter.

He said: “The prosecution case is that, far from attend to the issue by way of reasonable delegation, as George Boden may suggest, he paid lip-service to it at best, as he had with other insurer requests previously.”