WHAT HAPPENED?
In recent court proceedings, an oil refinery company has been sentenced for safety breaches that led to an incident in which two workers were seriously injured. On the 30th October 2013, the two workers, an employee and an apprentice of Phillips 66 Limited, were working with high-pressure steam pipework. During the process of reassembling the pipework following maintenance work there was an uncontrolled release of high-pressure steam at around 250°C
INJURY
The 53-year old suffered burns to his lower back and legs. The 20-year old apprentice received extremely serious burns to his torso, chest, arms and legs. These injuries were deemed to be life threatening at the time.
WHAT SHOULD HAVE PREVENTED IT?
The investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Phillips 66 Limited’s ‘safe systems of work’ had been adhered to by the two workers, but that they procedures had several failings and that several people involved in the implementation of the company’s safe isolation procedure failed to complete all the required checks and verifications to reduce the associated risks.
Phillips 66 Ltd had a responsibility to ensure that the correct procedures were in place and adhered to in order to keep their staff safe from harm.
COSTS
The court found Phillips 66 Limited of Aldergate Street, London guilty of breaching Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and ordered them to pay a fine of £1.2 million plus £20,450.05 in costs.
COULD CRAMS HELP?
CRAMS provides employers with a simple tool for managing health and safety obligations. Risk assessments and method statements are held online and can be distributed to all relevant team members quickly and easily. Keep a track of who in your team has acknowledged their safety documents and completed their training using the easy-to-use, cloud-based software.
Audits can also be easily carried out and any faults or issues logged, to be remedied, with documents updated and communicated by the appropriate person before work can be carried out. You have everything you need to ensure your business is compliant and your staff are safe whilst at work.
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