Firm fined £2 for fireball death

Prosecutions and Claims |
05.06.2008

North West Aerosols has been fined just £2 over the death of a worker who was turned into a human fireball in an explosion at its factory in Liverpool.

The company's directors put the firm into voluntary liquidation four months after the incident.

Christopher Knoop died and three other men were badly burned in December 2005 when liquid petroleum gas leaked into the factory and ignited at the start of a shift. The explosion created a fireball that extended half way across the adjacent road. Cans of aerosol exploded and were jettisoned around the factory and across the road.

Knoop and his colleagues Gary Brine, Kevin Armstrong and Graham Ryder were all engulfed in flames. They tried to extinguish the flames by rolling under conveyor belts and removing clothes as they fled the building but Knoop died from his injuries.

HSE inspector Keith Morris, who led the HSE's investigation, said the company "had not adopted good industry practice for the change-over of propellants, and had not provided self-sealing quick-release coupling or flame-retardant clothing for all the maintenance staff.

"There was no specific procedure for the changeover of propellants in the gashouses, and there were significant errors in the procedures for start-up and shutdown. On the day of the incident, a trainee engineer had been delegated to start up the production line."

On 4 June at Liverpool Crown Court, a jury took less than an hour to find North West Aerosols guilty of failing to ensure the safety of employees, failing to provide safe systems of work for filling aerosols, and failing to provide adequate instruction and training, contrary to Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act. But because the firm is in liquidation, Judge Graham Morrow QC said he could only impose £2 in fines, plus £1 towards costs.

He said that had the company been profitable, a £250,000 penalty would have been the "starting point".

Prosecuting for the HSE, Simon Parrington acknowledged the company "has no assets and never will have any assets", but the HSE had been keen to pursue the prosecution because the circumstances of the incident had been so serious.

No one from North West Aerosols attended the trial. One of the firm's directors now lives in Spain.