A ONE million pound fine imposed on a Stonehouse company after two workers were badly burnt in an 'accident that was waiting to happen' has been cut by £400,000 by an appeal court.

Delphi Diesel Systems Ltd successfully appealed against the sentence to a judge and two JPs at Gloucester crown court last Friday and the fine was reduced to £600,000.

The court heard that the two workers at the vehicle parts factory had been asked to clean a distillation tank - part of a component washing system - when the chemicals they were using caught fire and exploded.

One of the two workers was so badly burnt that he was off work for three months, the court was told.

Prosecutor David Sapiecha said: “The Durr washer was a machine that needed regular maintenance.

"On this occasion technicians from the German manufacturer were on site overhauling the machine and asked two of the Delphi employees to clean the ‘crud’ from inside the tank.

“The two men began by using an electric brush to break up the sediment at the bottom of the tan but they realised this wasn’t effective and resorted to using a specialist aerosol cleaner with wire brushes.

“The spray cleaner is highly inflammable and is a skin and eye irritant and should only be used in well ventilated areas.

“The men, wearing only their work tee-shirts and safety glasses, did not have gloves or a mask when they were cleaning the tank.

“The incident occurred when one of them put his arm into the only ventilation aperture in the tank and in using the aerosol cleaner and the wire brush together caused the vapour to ignite creating a flashback.

“One of the men’s tee-shirts caught fire and he rolled over to put out the flame and both tried to get away covering their faces with their arms.

“Both were taken to hospital in Gloucester and then to the burns unit at Southmead in Bristol.

“One man was released later that day while the other spent five days in hospital and he didn’t return to work for three months.”

The court heard that the company had risk assessed its control of hazardous to health systems for the normal working of the machine, but had not carried out an assessment for the procedure of cleaning the distillation tank.

The company, based at the Brunel Way, Stroudwater Business Park, Stonehouse, Stroud, admitted breaching the health and safety at work regulations.

The judge, Recorder Malcolm Galloway, observed that the company's failure to produce a risk assessment for cleaning the drum was the fundamental reason why this incident occurred.

Defending John Buchanan said: “The company accepts the cleaning aerosol agent was widespread within the company, but it was not generally used, if at all, used in confined spaces.

“The cleaning in this incident was not part of its annual maintenance, but was instigated by the manufacturer’s technicians as it had become contaminated.”

Mr Buchanan continued: “The company went to great lengths to install the washer, which became operational in November 2014, and had carried out the various risk assessments required of it.

“But what occurred on this occasion was that the cleaning process had not been properly considered.”

“The circumstances of July 11, 2017 incident are not in dispute.

“We’ve examined all the evidence in this case and taken into account that the company has an average turnover of £667 million a year. However we have accepted the company’s mitigation that while it has a high turnover, its profits are low.

The judge ordered that the fine of £600,000 should be paid within 28 days along with the magistrates court costs of £9,374 and a victim surcharge of £170.