NEWS
Fines and prosecutions Jersey prosecution sees £100,000 fine
PETROLEUM DISTRIBUTORS (Jersey) Ltd was fined £100,000 over the fire at its site in La Collette in May 2017, for which Jersey Fire and Rescue Service (JFRS) had declared a code amber in response. In August, the prosecution against the company had seen it plead guilty to breaching health and safety laws, after the fire on 26 May 2017. The fuel depot fire ‘left one person in hospital’, and when JFRS responded, it eventually had to declare a code amber, which ‘recalls all available off-duty and retained firefighters’. At its height, in total 25
firefighters, three fire appliances, a foam tanker, two support 4x4 vehicles and a command vehicle were required, with the fire taking two hours to control. At the Royal Court in September, the company admitted ‘failing to carry out a fire risk assessment’ while one of their employees was decommissioning a petrol dispenser, and ‘exposing their employee to danger’. The fire was reported as
having begun during that decommissioning process, with advocate Adam Harrison defending the company, and entering the guilty plea. Now, Jersey Evening Post has reported on the sentencing and fine handed to the company on two counts of failing to comply with health and safety laws, with
prosecutor attorney general Robert Macrae discussing the events leading up to the fire. On the day of the fire, one of the company’s employees removed a petrol pump from a property ‘for decommissioning’, and moved it to the depot, and the day after, he moved this pump into the company’s lubrication and oil store ‘as it was too hot to work outside’. Closing the roller shutter door behind him, he placed the pump into a drip tray, and ‘used a reciprocating electric saw to cut various parts of the pump’ before he saw a flash. As the pump caught fire, he
attempted to ‘smother it using a powder extinguisher’, which instead ‘drove flames towards oil and lubricant containers’, forcing him to escape to safety. Mr McRae stated that the director of Petroleum Distributors ‘at the time’ was unable to offer an ‘explanation as to why his employee of 17 years had chosen the method used to decommission the pump’, and had admitted that ‘there had never been any risk assessment drawn up’ for decommissioning. Mr McRae also referred to UK guidance, which noted ‘several considerations’ that should have been accounted for. These included ventilation, separating combustible
12 NOVEMBER 2018
www.frmjournal.com
materials from a work area, and use of cold cutting techniques, as opposed to hot cutting. Photographs were also shown of the site to help illustrate its ‘proximity’ to the fuel farm storing 200 tonnes of flammable liquid, as well as the damage caused to nearby buildings. Mr Harrison countered with the
fact the company had ‘admitted responsibility, had been cooperative throughout the investigation, entered an early guilty plea and had improved and reviewed safety procedures following the incident’, and that staff were now receiving training, with ‘appropriate’ firefighting equipment being kept on site, and the company now under the control of Roberts Garages, which had a ‘dedicated’ health and safety director’. Bailiff Sir William Bailhache,
sentencing, said that employers were obligated to ensure that health and safety regulations were ‘strictly enforced’. He added: 'We are pleased to hear that those now employed appear to be up to standard, but it is incomprehensible to hear about the way its employees acted the way that they did’. Mr McRae had recommended
a fine of £100,000 and costs of £5,000 to be paid, with these handed down to the company
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