A vehicle repair company has been fined £20,000 after an apprentice suffered severe burns at work and had to be transferred to Southampton Hospital for treatment.
Morris Marine & Motors Ltd appeared in the Royal Court yesterday after pleading guilty to offences under the health and safety law.
The court head that an apprentice had received severe burns whilst working for the company after using a blow torch in the vicinity of a flammable cleaning product.
The apprentice had to be transferred to Southampton Hospital for burns treatment.
He had been employed by Morris Marine & Motors Ltd for just under two months at the time of the accident in July 2023.
The company was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Inspectorate for failing to discharge Article 3(1) duty of the Health & Safety at Work (Jersey) Law 1989.
This law required them to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of their employees.
The Health and Safety Inspectorate investigation identified “several significant failures” at Morris Marine and Motors Ltd which contributed to the incident.
This included a failure to suitably assess the hazards and risks associated with the boat bilge cleaning activity, accounting for additional risk factors, such as the apprentice’s youth and inexperience, in the assessment of risk; a failure to provide training and supervision; and a failure to utilise appropriate information sources to help quantify and manage the risks to health and safety associated with that activity.
Morris Marine & Motors Ltd pleaded guilty to the offence and the company was fined £20,000 and £5,000 in costs by Royal Court on Thursday 18 September.
