A garage in the Windermere area has been fined after a mechanic was badly burned when trying to cut the top off an empty oil drum.
The 26-year-old employee was using a propane torch to remove the lid when the remaining oil inside the drum set alight, causing an explosion. He suffered burns to his hands and arms, and was kept in hospital for five days.
At a court hearing on 15 January 2013 the owner of Windermere Auto Centre, Kankku Ltd, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the incident on 27 July 2011.
Kendal Magistrates' Court heard that the employees at the garage cut the tops off empty oil drums approximately once every three months so that they could be used to store scrap metal.
However, the company failed to consider the risk of the propane torch creating and igniting a vapour from the small amount of oil remaining in the drums.
Kankku Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 6(1) of the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002 by failing to minimise the risks to which employees were exposed.
The company, of Victoria Street in Windermere, was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay £4,746 in prosecution costs. Kankku Ltd was also ordered to pay £500 in compensation to the injured worker.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Anthony Banks said:
"There were several ways the top could have been cut off the oil drum safely, but the company should have considered whether it needed to do this in the first place.
"It would have been much more sensible to use another container to store scrap metal at the garage, rather than using a drum which still had small amounts of a flammable substance inside."
"Sadly, these types of incidents are all too common, and it's only luck that the mechanic wasn't more seriously injured or even killed in the explosion."
Regulation 6(1) of the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmosphere Regulations 2002 states: "Every employer shall ensure that risk is either eliminated or reduced so far as is reasonably practicable."
Regulation 6(1) of the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmosphere Regulations 2002 states: "Every employer shall ensure that risk is either eliminated or reduced so far as is reasonably practicable."
You can view video footage of a similar incident involving hot cutting of an oil drum at a garage on the HSE website: http://www.hse.gov.uk/fireandexplosion/hot-cutting-oil-drum-residual-vapour.htm?ebul=hsegen&cr=17/28-jan-13
