Company responsible for gas leak and working while electricity remained live.
A demolition company has been fined following a dangerous occurrence involving the release of over half a tonne of gas. It also carried out work while electricity supplies to the buildings undergoing demolition remained live.
Kane Haulage Ltd of St Albans in Hertfordshire, was contracted to carry out demolition work at Oldfield Trading Estate in Sutton in preparation for the construction of a new self storage facility on the site. Although some work had been undertaken by the utility companies EDF Energy (EDF) and Scotia Gas Networks (SGN) to disconnect the electricity and gas supplies at the site, neither had completed the process. Meters had been removed from various building units on the estate but the electricity and gas supplies up to the meters remained live.
City of London Magistrates Court heard that EDF engineers were called to the site on a number of occasions between May and July 2009 as a result of damage to live cables, EDF had warned Kane Haulage not to continue with work until all the electricity supplies had been disconnected. Despite this warning, demolition work continued and EDF made a complaint to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) when it was again called to the site on 15 September 2009.
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