 | Home > Off Topic > Car garage fined £80,000 over horrific oil drum explosion |
 
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| Supacat Member Since: 16 Oct 2012 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 11018   
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Might be a timely reminder to a few on here given the circumstances.
"An MOT centre has been fined £80,000 for supplying an oil drum that exploded and killed an agricultural engineer. Six had been provided, and an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the empty drums, which had been labelled as having contained motor oil, had also previously held highly flammable gasoline. However, they hadn’t been labelled correctly by Stonehill MOT Centre, of Stockley Meadows, Huntingdon, when it provided them for a pheasant shoot. Luton magistrates were told that experienced agricultural engineer Christopher Chatfield had been making metal pheasant feeders for the shoot near his home in Warboys, said the HSE. It involved converting empty 200-litre oil containers by cutting open the lids with a plasma torch. An inquest was earlier told by shoot gamekeeper David Clifford that more feeders had been needed so he got half a dozen oil drums from Stonehill MOT Centre where brother-in-law Dean Hurrell worked, a BBC report said. CCTV footage showed a flash of flame when Chatfield, 58, used the cutter on the first of the drums. He examined his face and completed work on the first and second drums. But while he cut open the third drum, it exploded and killed him with a ‘massive penetrating head injury that would have been instantly fatal’. The inquest was told, however, that although one of the remaining drums smelled of fuel or petrol and two drums that were scientifically examined had petrol or gasoline, the damage to the oil drum that killed Chatfield had made it impossible to tell what had been in it. The tragedy happened on April 21, 2017 and in January 2019 an inquest jury in Huntingdon returned a narrative verdict that his death was an accident. The case finally came to Luton Magistrates’ Court last month (April), where the HSE said there had been a failure to supply labelling to show that the empty motor oil drums had been repurposed to store gasoline, which had created a fire and explosion risk. Stonehill MOT Centre admitted breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act and was also ordered to pay £8,167 costs. After the hearing, HSE inspector Parmjit Gahir said: ‘Those who are involved in the sale or supply of an article or substance, in this case used oil drums, have a responsibility to ensure that adequate information is provided so that the person buying the article can ensure that it can be safely used, cleaned and maintained. ‘Failure to provide any labelling information on the used drums, to show that they had also contained gasoline, did not allow for the necessary precautions to be considered and adopted when cutting the drums open. ‘If appropriate labelling had been in place this incident could have been avoided.’" https://cardealermagazine.co.uk/publish/ca...eer/223421 |
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17th May 2021 1:03pm |
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| miker Member Since: 13 Sep 2015 Location: Surrey Posts: 1758 
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A tragic accident for sure, but I've always been told that any drum or tank that might have contained fuel or oil (or other flammable substance) should be washed out and flushed with air for several hours to get any residual vapour out.
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18th May 2021 11:51am |
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| jim4244 Member Since: 13 Apr 2014 Location: Bedfordshire Posts: 623  
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So he started cutting one which resulted in a minor explosion and then just carried on cutting the others? Or did I read that wrong?
Jim |
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18th May 2021 12:01pm |
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| blackwolf Member Since: 03 Nov 2009 Location: South West England Posts: 16856 
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No, I think you read it right. He singed his eyebrows on the first one, and then killed himself with the next one.
One has to wonder...... |
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18th May 2021 12:54pm |
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| SJM2018 Member Since: 06 Jul 2018 Location: Bristol Posts: 296 
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There was a recent phase (maybe a couple of years ago), where people were converting propane cylinders into woodstoves / light fittings.
The individuals would 'empty' the cylinder (i.e. get a nice mix of residual propane and air) and then cut them open with angle grinders. It's a wonder no one was killed; presumably they're designed to explode 'safely'. In fact, I think it was shown on a BBC programme. edit: There was a bbc programme - https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2...tting.html 2011 CSW XS 90 |
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18th May 2021 1:04pm |
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| Badger110 Member Since: 06 Feb 2018 Location: South hams Posts: 1025 
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Darwin Award
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19th May 2021 1:44pm |
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| boxoftricks Member Since: 06 Feb 2019 Location: Home Counties Posts: 745 
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Got to agree, the poor victim is in part responsible. Who the hell hot cuts a drum that contained oil/petrol without filling with water to remove fumes and then flushing out.....especially after one previously went pop!
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19th May 2021 2:20pm |
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| blackwolf Member Since: 03 Nov 2009 Location: South West England Posts: 16856
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Filling with water and flushing isn't adequate, if it has held fuel you need to steam it. My acquaintance, who as mentioned above blew up a petrol tank, had flushed it several times before the first deflagration.
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19th May 2021 4:22pm |
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| Leamreject Member Since: 19 Dec 2020 Location: Middle Earth - Leamington Spa Posts: 954  
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A chain of events here that should have been avoided, leading to a sad and very unnecessary outcome. Ride like you stole it!!
If I’m not on a bike it’s because only a 4x4 will do… 2011 2.4 Puma 90 HT |
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19th May 2021 4:27pm |
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| Defender SVX Member Since: 29 Jan 2009 Location: Co Durham Posts: 726 
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Totally agree 
I in the past have removed the valve from a 47kg propane bottle and filled with water and left all week, emptied then on a refill of water sparked a lighter on the release gasses and been shocked to see a small flame/pop  still made an brilliant Durham Ox (home made OZ Pig)
Click image to enlarge Common sense from the so called engineer should have prevailed on this occasion especially after the first event, very sad for the family of the deceased but I can’t help feeling sorry for the garage that thought they were helping by giving/selling their old drums for a good use. Would a simple label have probably prevented this catastrophe? Formerly mao99999 16 Focus RS Nitrous Blue. 11 FFRR TDV8 Vouge SE Black Black. 08 DEFENDER SVX SOFT TOP (SUPERB) 08 DEFENDER 110 DCPU Stornoway grey (Overland Exploration Unit) 05 Fiesta ST 150 Van 04 Jaguar XKR 4.2 Supercharged V8 02 DEFENDER 90 TD5 (next years soft top project) 95 DEFENDER 110 CSW 300 TDi Phoenix black 95 DEFENDER 90 HT Monti Carlo blue COUNTY 300 TDi 67 109" SERIES 2a TUNED 200 TDI 64 DAVID BROWN 990 rat look 55 86" SERIES 1 |
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19th May 2021 5:06pm |
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| Bluest Member Since: 23 Apr 2016 Location: Lancashire Posts: 3995 
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It’s likely the garage came cropper because they effectively sold the chap a barrel containing a hazardous substance in a container that was labelled as containing something else. That brings with it a whole raft rules and regs which probably weren’t followed. Imagine the paperwork required to handle and sell someone a drum of fuel vapour. 2007 110 TDCi Station Wagon XS
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19th May 2021 5:55pm |
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| Defender SVX Member Since: 29 Jan 2009 Location: Co Durham Posts: 726
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A flammable liquid “nominally empty” vessel is considered more hazardous under ADR regulations ie a empty petrol tanker is more volatile so still in scope for road transport until purged and cleaned with a recognised EFTCO certification.
A standard 205 litre “lubrication oil” drum isn’t considered hazardous for transport either full or nominally empty (a petroleum would) but may be considered so as part of COSHH. Obviously what has happened is the garage has utilised the old lube oil drums for probably storing some misfueling residue thus not labelled correctly. As I rarely handle packaged hazardous goods anymore I probably should look up/know the rules of nominally empty drums and IBCs but I’m fairly sure they come under both COSHH and ADR that require correct labelling and correct UN rated packaging.
The garage were probably found liable for the breach of the above that became a fatal incident hence the severity of the fine. Formerly mao99999 16 Focus RS Nitrous Blue. 11 FFRR TDV8 Vouge SE Black Black. 08 DEFENDER SVX SOFT TOP (SUPERB) 08 DEFENDER 110 DCPU Stornoway grey (Overland Exploration Unit) 05 Fiesta ST 150 Van 04 Jaguar XKR 4.2 Supercharged V8 02 DEFENDER 90 TD5 (next years soft top project) 95 DEFENDER 110 CSW 300 TDi Phoenix black 95 DEFENDER 90 HT Monti Carlo blue COUNTY 300 TDi 67 109" SERIES 2a TUNED 200 TDI 64 DAVID BROWN 990 rat look 55 86" SERIES 1 |
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19th May 2021 7:16pm |
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