THURSDAY, 16 APRIL 2015
A global defence contractor has been fined £24,000 after two
workers suffered horrific injuries in an accident at a Scots plant that builds
laser guidance systems for missiles.
Steven Delargey and Russell Brand were carrying out out
non-essential work at Raytheon Systems Ltd's Glenrothes plant in Fife.
The pair's employers C&F Electrical Services were fined
£20,000.
They tried to replace capacitors while a high voltage
electrical system was live because Raytheon did not want to interrupt
production at the factory.
The pair suffered horrific injuries in the accident, with
prosecutors stating the firm wanted to "cut costs at the expense of
safety".
It happened after one of the capacitors they were removing
came into contact with a pair of live busbars, causing an electrical flashover
that severely burned them on the face, neck and arms.
Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard Mr Brand and Mr Delargey both
had to be admitted to intensive care units for four days.
Mr Delargey suffered 10 per cent full thickness burns and
was off work for almost a year and has been left with permanent scarring to his
neck and face.
Raytheon build laser-guidance systems for missiles at the
factory.
A Health and Safety Executive probe found that the work
should not have gone ahead with the distribution board live and that the job
was "not reasonable".
They found there was "no urgency" for the
capacitors to be replaeced as they had been switched off for some time - and
that the only effect of delaying the work would have been increased energy
bills and issues meeting Carbon Trust emissions standards.
The court was told that "cost cutting at the expense of
safety" was an "aggravating factor" in the case and that the
risks were "entirely foreseeable".
Raytheon and C&F Electrical Services pleaded guilty to
two charges on indictment under the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989.
Source: http://www.heraldscotland.com