Two workers at a new factory in Norwich died in a fireball as vapour from paint they were pouring ignited in a confined space. No risk assessment for the work had been carried out.

The Health and Safety Executives (HSE) investigation found the two workers had already sprayed several steel digger excavator buckets on the morning of 13 July 2015 and were preparing for their next batch when the incident happened.

When the case was heard in Norwich Crown Court last year, the prosecution told the court that the accident was caused by the workers discharging paint into a 200-litre drum inside the booth. The consequences were that the drum effectively became a bomb, due to the flammable paint and thinners giving off such highly flammable vapours. This action caused the vapour to enter the paint booth and come into contact with one of a large number of potential ignition sources, and foreseeably, exploded.

The company had previously been warned that it had failed to provide a risk assessment for the spray paint work in the booth. The court heard that the company’s “inconsistent and incomplete approach” to safety management resulted in a lack of suitable control measures or a suitable and sufficient safe system of work.

The company pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act and breaching regulation 6(4)(f)(i) of the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmosphere Regulations (DSEAR). The firm has seven years to pay off the £145,000 fine imposed, with court costs of £65,900.