A father and son-owned engineering company in Devon have been fined at total of £85,000 after pleading guilty to health and safety offences following an explosion that killed an employee.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) brought the case after breaches by R J Bateman (Engineering) Limited, of High Street, Midsomer Norton, Bath and by its two directors, father Richard Bateman and son John Bateman.

The safety failures led to the explosion of a coolant drum and the death of 40-year-old Anthony Reed on 3 April 2006 from injuries sustained.

The company, which has a factory at Bycott, Chumleigh in Devon and makes crop spraying equipment, pleaded guilty to breaches under Section 2 and 3 of the Health and Safety at Work (HSWA) etc Act 1974. Richard and John Bateman both admitted a breach of Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 at Exeter Crown Court today.

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Anthony Reed had only started with the company one month earlier. He was welding some practice pieces on a make-shift work bench, consisting of a metal plate supported by a modified 200-litre coolant drum. The drum was being used to collect waste materials at the factory site in Bycott, including highly flammable liquids that were ignited. Mr Reed suffered serious head injuries in the subsequent explosion and died from his injuries eight days later in hospital.

Mr Reed was a novice welder and the company was found guilty of failing to protect him and other staff working at the factory.

The firm was also found guilty of breaching regulation 3 (1) of the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995, following an earlier incident in November 2004 which the company failed to report to HSE. On that occasion self-employed worker Trevor McWilliams suffered chest injuries after falling from a roof extension at the factory site in Chumleigh.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector, Jo Fitzgerald, said: "This company operates in the sort of industrial environment where there can be significant risks to staff, which must be managed well to keep people safe. The risk of working with flammable substances, in particular, cannot be underestimated.

"Mr Reed should never have been in the position he found himself in, practising his skills using a makeshift set up, with no knowledge of the significant danger in which he had placed himself. This terrible tragedy was the result of years of inadequate health and safety management and could have been avoided if proper systems had been adopted by the company."

(CD/KMcA)