A fitter has suffered severe burns while carrying out electrical maintenance work on a heat exchanger system.
The employer has been prosecuted under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

The 40-year-old fitter was injured while attempting to wire two heat exchangers together. A safety cut-off switch on the panel housing the wiring for the two units did not activate with the opening of the panel door as programmed and the operative received a 415 V shock.

It was found during an investigation by local authority environmental health officers that the safety cut-off had been bypassed. This was done to enable operatives to work on one of the units while the other remained operational. They also found that the fitter had been insufficiently trained in working with heat exchangers.

The employer was fined £14 500 for each of two offences under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and £3500 for failing to comply with the requirements of the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989. Prosecution costs of £10 000 were also imposed.