A company has been fined £85,000 after an employee died following the explosion of a coolant drum, serving as a warning to builders liability insurance customers.
R J Bateman (Engineering), of High Street, Midsomer Norton, Bath was fined by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after it pleaded guilty under Section 2 and 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
The prosecution follows an accident which saw new employee Anthony Reed practice his welding on a make-shift workbench made of the 200-litre coolant drum. The welding led to the drum exploding, causing the staff member to suffer head injuries and later die.
During the case the company was also fined for an incident in 2004 which it had failed to report to the HSE, when a worker fell from a roof extension at the site.
Jo Fitzgerald, an inspector for the HSE, told builders liability insurance customers: "The risk of working with flammable substances ... cannot be underestimated.
"This terrible tragedy was the result of years of inadequate health and safety management and could have been avoided if proper systems had been adopted by the company."
Builders liability insurance customers were recently warned about safety while working at height, after an employee broke his spine in a fall when working for Philpott Demolition and Recycling, in Norwich.