Skanska fined for arc that burned three

Prosecutions and Claims |
12.08.2007

John Brookes and Noah Eastwood (employees of electrical subcontractor Wirepoint) and David Powell (who worked for Skanska Rashleigh Weatherfoil) were injured when a non-insulated tool or hand made contact with live equipment, causing a massive flashover at a site in Milton Keynes.

The accident happened while Skanska Rashleigh Weatherfoil - a division of the construction group Skanska that provides specialist electrical, data and communications building services - was working at St Just House in Milton Keynes. The building had a temporary power supply from the adjacent St Neots House. On 22 December 2005, the three men were upgrading the supply in a switchroom in the grounds of St Neots. They had to connect a new cable into an air circuit breaker (ACB), but instead of getting the power switched off at the substation, they switched off the ACB so that the side where they needed to make a connection was dead. But just a "fist distance" away, the bus bars on the other side were still live.

The men could not see clearly, as they had light only from the open switchroom doors and a torch. They did realise they needed insulation between the live and dead sides, so they used a piece of Cordex (a plastic corrugated material that is not designed for use as an insulator). As they started to make the connection, either a non-insulated spanner or one of the men's hands came close to the live side, causing a flashover.

"What they could have done is to phone Central Networks and ask them to flip the switch off," HSE inspector Trevor Tollervey told HSW. With just a few days notice, this would have knocked the power off to the whole site, with no inconvenience.

The HSE's subsequent investigation found that none of the three workers was experienced in working with live equipment. Eastwood, the most badly injured worker, was a "cable puller" who was used only to running dead cables. Tollervey said there is also "some doubt" about when Skanska prepared its method statement and risk assessment documents. "The men never saw them until after the incident," he said. Someone had forged Eastwood's signature on the documents, and they were not on official forms.

Skanska pleaded guilty to breaching Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act for failing to protect employees and others. At Aylesbury Crown Court on 15 June, Judge Cripps fined it £30,000 for each charge and ordered it to pay £13,369 costs.