Glasgow firm fined after worker catches fire

Safety chiefs are warning contractors about the risk of live electricity lines after a workman caught fire during a cable explosion.

The warning follows the prosecution of SP Power Systems of Glasgow, after Peter Mason was engulfed in flames and his colleague, Kieran Williams, thrown to the ground after one of them tripped and fell onto a live cable during construction work in Great George Street, Liverpool.

Peter Mason took the full force of the blast to his face and neck and had to run 40m out of the building in flames before being able to extinguish them in a puddle of rainwater.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that SP Power Systems had left the cable in a live condition for five months, but failed to make it safe. The firm was fined £32,000, plus £15,000 costs.

HSE inspector Wayne Crumpton said in October 2005 workmen on the site came across a metal pipe which was sparking and was identified as a live cable that they had been unaware of.

SP Power Systems was contacted and visited the site, sealing the end of the cable, but failed to make it clear to the site management team that the cable remained live. Believing the cable to be dead, work was allowed to continue on the site. The incident happened six months later on 8 March 2006.