A former manager at Island Energy has told jurors that the company “did it the Jersey way” and “not the UK way” when it came to matters concerning gas safety and compliance.
Neil Armstrong (58), John Wright (60) and Lee Ward (59) are on trial for gross negligence manslaughter.
The three men worked together on the network operations team at Island Energy when the Haut du Mont explosion occurred on Saturday 10 December 2022.
Mr Armstrong, Mr Wright and Mr Ward each deny ten counts of gross negligence manslaughter, while Jersey Gas – which trades as Island Energy – also denies two alleged breaches of the Health and Safety at Work (Jersey) Law 1989.
The gas company’s former asset delivery manager Mark Wheeldon appeared at the Royal Court’s temporary Jubilee Wharf courtroom yesterday to give evidence.
He told the jury that he moved to Jersey “as a newbie” in August 2021 to work for Island Energy, having accrued extensive experience in the sector while in the UK.
Working at Island Energy like “going back 40 years”
Mr Wheeldon said that he had attempted, as part of his role, to implement a set of procedures known as the Safe Control of Operations (SCO).
Jurors heard that he believed the company needed to “lift its game significantly” with regard to safety and compliance protocols.
“It was like going back 40 years,” he told jurors. “There was a little bit of dissent from some people in the office that it was overly complex and we didn’t need to do it in Jersey.
“I remember when I first started, I was getting told by lots of people – when I heard about issues about compliance – that they did it ‘the Jersey way’, and not the UK way’ – and my way, I’m afraid, is the UK way.”
In a review overseen by Mr Wheeldon following the explosion on 10 December 2022, he found that the SCO procedures had not been properly implemented.
Earlier in his evidence, he told Crown Advocate Simon Thomas, prosecuting, that the network operations team – led by Mr Armstrong – had rushed the reconnection of gas supply to Haut du Mont on 9 December after accidentally disconnecting it earlier in the afternoon.
“It wasn’t something that I would want to do overnight”
Mr Wheeldon said he did not believe it was “urgent” for the team to reconnect the supply, despite several commercial premises – including the St Helier Yacht Club – losing their gas supply on account of the botched disconnection.
“I assumed that they were trying to find out what had gone wrong, and then they were planning to put it [back] on sometime later,” he recalled.
He argued that the team, led by supervisor Mr Armstrong, should have taken more time to excavate the area in which they had incorrectly cut off the supply.
“The reason I say that is that the scale of the job was three days of work to recommission the La Collete network,” said Mr Wheeldon.
“That is not a day’s work, or three hours’ work. It was a fairly big job. It wasn’t something that I would want to do overnight and, like I said, it just wasn’t urgent as far as I was concerned.”
He added that Island Energy team leaders Mr Wright and Mr Ward did not have access to maps allowing them to properly understand the pipework they were reconnecting.
This meant the network operations team were unable to see the utilities near the excavation site.
Licences seen as expense Island Energy “could do without”
Mr Wheeldon said that, after the explosion, he voiced his concern to senior Island Energy employees about team leaders not having “real-time access” to critical information.
“Do you remember when you had to push for licences, how expensive they were?” asked Crown Advocate Thomas.
Mr Wheeldon responded: “In my world, they weren’t very expensive, but for some reason Island Energy thought they were an expense that they maybe could do without.”
Commissioner Andrew Oldland is presiding.
The trial continues.
