Island Energy gas engineers ignored a “serious and obvious risk of death” by failing to test for a gas leak prior to the Haut du Mont explosion, a prosecutor has said in his closing address to jurors.
Neil Armstrong (58), John Wright (60) and Lee Ward (59) are charged with unlawfully killing the ten victims of the Haut du Mont disaster on 10 December 2022.
Crown Advocate Simon Thomas, prosecuting, asked jurors yesterday in his closing speech to find each defendant guilty on ten counts of gross negligence manslaughter.
Jurors were told that the three men had been aware of a “serious and obvious” risk of death when they reintroduced gas to Haut du Mont without conducting a “pressure test”.
He argued that the defendants had “foresight” of this risk when carrying out the reconnection work on the day before the explosion.
“The risk of death was a serious and obvious one,” the Crown Advocate told jurors.
“When reintroducing gas into a main that’s not been tested, the prosecution says that it is utterly reprehensible in those circumstances for gas engineers to take that risk.
“A risk that could be eliminated by a basic and fundamental test that every gas engineer should know about.”
The prosecutor said jurors would need to consider each defendant’s role in the explosion separately.
Mr Wright: “Should have been more than aware of his own obligations”
The court previously heard that Mr Wright was tasked by his supervisor Mr Armstrong to help restore gas to the Haut du Mont housing block on 9 December.
Crown Advocate Thomas stated that he failed to ensure that a pressure test was applied on the reconnected pipework.
In a video-recorded interview, however, Mr Wright said that Mr Armstrong had explicitly told him not to conduct the test.
“F*** the test, get it back on – that’s what I was told,” the gas engineer told investigators. “If he says don’t, I don’t. What Neil [Armstrong] says goes, basically.”
But the prosecutor said that Mr Wright had advanced no “compelling reason” for deferring to his supervisor in this context.
“He was the one doing the work on that site,” Advocate Thomas said. “A man of his experience cannot simply shift the blame onto Mr Armstrong.
“He should have been more than aware of his own obligations as an experienced gas engineer to ensure that things are done safely.
“You have seen someone aware that something seriously wrong has happened, [and has] simply passed the buck, saying: “I can’t go against Neil””.
Mr Ward: “Had ample time to properly assess the situation”
Mr Ward was called to the excavation site – where the reconnection work was commencing – at 4pm on 9 December as a replacement for his Island Energy colleague Luke Le Brocq, who was employed as an apprentice.
Jurors heard Crown Advocate Thomas argue that Mr Ward was “as culpable” as his two Island Energy colleagues for the Haut du Mont explosion on 10 December.
“It may well be that at first blush you have some sympathy for Mr Ward,” he said.
“You may even think it is a little harsh for him to be in court given that he arrived into the work so late in the day.
“But the prosecution says that when you carefully analyse Mr Ward’s position in relation to this work, you’ll appreciate that any sympathy that you might have for him is misplaced.”
Mr Ward, the prosecutor argued, was a “duty team leader” who “knew the importance of carrying out a pressure test”.
Crown Advocate Thomas continued: “He had ample time to properly assess the situation and to recognise the risk involved in what was being done, and to ensure they were being mitigated by carrying out that test.”
Mr Armstrong: “Difficult to conceive of more serious negligence than the behaviour of Mr Armstrong”
The prosecutor said that Mr Armstrong was the “manager” and therefore responsible for deciding to “rush” the Haut du Mont gas supply reconnection on 9 December.
He told jurors that the first of Mr Armstrong’s alleged breaches of duty involved him leaving an Emergency Control Valve “open and unplugged” at Haut du Mont after reintroducing gas to the social housing block.
“Mr Armstrong didn’t check properly,” the prosecutor continued. “He was rushing and distracted by other matters, and it was negligent of him not to check properly.
“If he didn’t check that all of the ECVs were closed and plugged, then there was a risk of a gas leak through any one of those ECVs.
“If gas leaks through any one of those ECVs, the consequences – and the risk of exactly the sort of event that we saw on 10 December taking place, an explosion that kills ten people – was all too readily obvious.”
This breach was followed by the same defendant failing to make sure that a pressure test was applied to the reconnected pipework – and then lying to two senior members of staff about failing to have conducted one, the prosecutor said.
Crown Advocate Thomas said: “Taking all these matters together, you may think it difficult to conceive of more serious negligence than the behaviour of Mr Armstrong in relation to work carried out on 9 December.”
Island Energy: “Failed to get round to implementing crucial safety measures”
The prosecutor added that Island Energy – which denies two alleged breaches of the Health and Safety at Work (Jersey) Law 1989 – are also culpable for the explosion which killed ten Islanders because of its “systemic non-compliance” in relation to health and safety.
Crown Advocate Thomas stated that the work carried out on 9 December also illustrated the “inadequacy” of how Island Energy responded to emergencies.
It was argued that the blast represented an example of what can happen “when work is not controlled in the way it should be, and workers start cutting corners.”
He concluded: “The unavoidable conclusion, the prosecution say, is that Island Energy had for years failed to get round to what it knew it should be doing.
“It had failed to get round to implementing crucial safety measures because it didn’t want to spend money.
“It took an explosion and the deaths of ten people to make the company sit up and put in place what it should have put in place years earlier.”
Commissioner Andrew Oldland is presiding. The trial continues.
