The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prosecuted Manchester-based The Moseley Rubber Company Ltd, after a coffee break saved an employee from being killed in an explosion.

In February 2008, 56-year-old David Lomas from Ancoats was working at the company’s premises on Hoyle Street, Manchester.

He was returning from a coffee break when he saw five-foot iron girder fly through the factory, smashing his workbench to pieces. The HSE investigation discovered that an autoclave – a high-pressure machine used to manufacture rubber rollers – had exploded after not being maintained properly.

The force of the blast shot an iron girder across the factory and lifted the cement-sheet roof off the building. This then fell back into place, bending all the internal roof supports.

Mr Lomas – a father of four and grandfather of 10 – was employed as a machine operator at the factory. He would normally have been sitting at his desk, but had left it earlier than usual to make a cup of coffee. He sustained injuries to his chest and arm in the explosion, however.

The factory closed down following the incident and he has been unable to return to work.

On Thursday (31/03//10) at Trafford Magistrates’ Court, The Moseley Rubber Company Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 9(1)(a) and 12 of the Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000 by failing to arrange a routine inspection of the machine and by failing to maintain it. The company was ordered to pay a maximum fine of £10,000 for the two offences with £8,153 costs.

The HSE had issued a total of 12 Prohibition Notices when HSE Inspector Matt Greenly visited the factory as part of the investigation, banning the use of other machines which had also not been inspected.

After the hearing, Mr Lomas said that he still had flashbacks to the incident.

‘Whenever I think about it, it just makes me realise how close I was to not coming home that night and never seeing my family again. It’s given me a few sleepless nights.

‘It just happened that, on that day, I’d got to work ten minutes earlier than normal, so had set up my machine and gone to make a coffee before the explosion.

‘I was walking back to my workbench when the force of the explosion blew me back about 15 feet. If I’d got to work at my usual time then I’d have been killed without a doubt. The girder would have cut me in half.’

HSE inspector Matt Greenly said:

‘Incredibly, Dave only suffered minor injuries in the explosion, but there could easily have been several deaths. It’s shocking that the Moseley Rubber Company appears to have had such little concern for the safety of its workers, allowing them to work with potentially dangerous machinery for several years.

‘The company failed to service the machine for more than a decade, after cancelling its annual shutdown for routine maintenance. It also ignored its legal duty to make sure a routine inspection was carried out by a qualified inspector.

‘This case demonstrates how important it is for manufacturing companies to take their health and safety responsibilities seriously. It simply isn’t acceptable to cut back on safety to try and make short-term gains,’ said Mr Greenly.

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