Electric shock director turns on HSE

A director of a company prosecuted after pleading guilty to criminal safety offences has claimed the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) only took the case to recoup is costs. Derek Offord, 45, suffered serious burns to his left arm and knee and open wounds to his forearm and left palm after receiving an electric shock while working at coating and treatment firm Tecvac Ltd's factory in Swavesey, near Cambridge. He was checking new cables on a hardening machine which had recently undergone maintenance, when he suffered the shock. Mr Offord spent 12 days in hospital and was unable to return to work for four months. Cambridge Magistrates' Court heard an HSE investigation found Tecvac had failed to carry out a suitable risk assessment, which should have identified the need to isolate the power supply before inspecting the cables. The firm admitted a criminal breach of the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 and was fined £3,500 plus £5,382.70 costs. However, after the hearing, Tecvac site director Richard Burslem told safety monthly SHP Online: 'I feel that the prosecution was not required because of our safety record and believe it was not in the public interest. In my opinion, the HSE only brought the case to court to recover their costs.' However, an HSE spokesperson told the safety quarterly Hazards magazine: 'It's nonsense to suggest that HSE brings prosecutions for financial reasons. We take employers to court when we have evidence of a criminal failure to manage risk and it is in the public interest to do so. The court's verdict reflects that the case prosecution was properly brought.'

HSE news release and electricity webpages. SHP Online. Hazards magazine.