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Appliance repair ends in electrocution and British Gas prosecution
SF (UK) Ltd, trading as British Gas, of Windsor has been ordered to pay £100k in fines and prosecution costs following the death of an engineer.
On 7 June 2005 BG engineer Ricky Cronin attended a residential call-out near Waltham Cross. He was repairing a washing machine motor fault, when he came into contact with live parts and was electrocuted.
Mr Cronin was in his fifth week of employment with BG and as part of the induction programme he was accompanied on the job by a more experienced colleague. HSE investigation found that the “induction training provided was insufficient and there was a lack of adequate risk assessments for the task.”
HSE Inspector, Rauf Ahmed said: “I hope this tragic incident makes it clear to employers, large and small, that they need to take positive action to manage risks and ensure staff receive adequate training when starting in a new job. There is plenty of advice and guidance available both from industry and HSE to help comply with the law and keep people safe when working with electricity.”