HSE Reminds Electrical Contractors To Use Safe Working Practices After Edinburgh Company Fined 300,000 pounds, UK

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 24 Oct 2008 - 5:00 PDT

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The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has warned the electrical contracting industry of the tragic consequences which can result when safe working procedures are not practiced when working on live electrical systems.

The warning follows the death of 26 year-old Michael Adamson, of Edinburgh, who was electrocuted in August 2005 when he came into contact with a live conductor in a cable on which he was working.

Mitie Engineering Services (Edinburgh) Ltd, Roddinglaw Business Park, Edinburgh were fined £300,000 at Dundee Sheriff Court today after being found guilty of charges under Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 at a hearing on Tuesday 14 October. Two company directors and the project manager were acquitted of charges under Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

Mr Adamson, a qualified electrician, was working at the JJB Sports Centre and Retail Outlet, which was under construction at the Gallagher Retail Park in Dundee. He was installing cables, fixtures and fittings when the incident happened. Despite being labeled 'not in use', the cable he was working on was live; it had not been safely and securely isolated from the electricity supply.

Mr Adamson was not provided with the necessary test equipment to prove the cable was dead, nor the means to securely isolate the circuit.

HSE Principal Inspector Jim Skilling commented after the case:

"The Health and Safety Executive has found that across the electrical contracting industry there is widespread violation of the safe working practices.

Each year there are around 2000 incidents at work involving electrical injury, including electric shock, and about 20 of these result in fatalities. The industry's complacency in accepting dangerous practices is startling.

Michael Adamson's death could have been prevented had his employer ensured that safe working practices were being carried out in accordance with the company's own written procedures. Managers and supervisors in this industry must take active steps to ensure that their electricians work safely." HSE has since supported SELECT (Scotland's trade association for the electrical, electronics and communications systems industry), Electrical Safety Council, Electrical Contractors' Association, National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contractors, and the Institution of Engineering and Technology in publishing targeted guidance on safe isolation procedures in the electrical contracting industry.

However, the information on safe working practices in this guidance is not new and was well known to the electrical contracting industry for a long time prior to Mr Adamson's death.

Notes

Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states: "It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees."

HSE