Three firms have been fined more than £600,000 for the health and safety breaches leading to a father-of-two being killed in a gas cylinder blast.
Sutton man Adam Johnston, 38, was killed by one of heavy metal 66 gas cylinders which rocketed around a building site at up to 170mph during a terrifying one-and-a-half minute chain reaction in Hertfordshire in 2008.
Three companies - Kent-based Crown House Technologies, Slough based Kidde Fire Protection Services and Kidde Products, also from Slough - have now been fined £685,787 for the breaches which led to the incident following a successful prosecution from the Health and Safety Executive.
St Albans Crown Court was told the incident was sparked by an unsecured gas cylinder falling over allowing its unprotected valve to shear at the neck during the hearing on Friday. This caused a jet of pressurised argonite gas to be released from the cylinder, which sent it colliding into others.
A corridor at the site badly damaged and littered with exploded cylinders following the blast
This caused a chain reaction in which 66 of the 80 cylinders, all unsecured, nearly two metres tall and weighing 142kg each, were discharged, sending them flying around the building in Welwyn Garden City at up to 170mph.
Workers hid but the cylinders pierced walls. One of them hit Mr Johnstone, who was working for Crown House Technologies, and left him with multiple injuries. He was declared dead at the scene. Six other workers suffered injuries, some of them long-term.
The hearing concluded all three companies were guilty of breaches in not storing the gas cylinders with their safety caps in place and in appropriate racks.
The building after the explosion
Crown House Technologies was fined £117,000 and ordered to pay costs of £119,393.65, Kidde Products and Kidde Fire Protection Services were each fined £165,000 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £59,696.72.
HSE Principal Inspector Norman Macritchie said: "Mr Johnston had no control over the chain of events which led to his tragic death. He died while going about his business as a result of the shortcomings of others.
"It is only by chance that this incident did not cause further fatalities.
"This incident was devastating for his family and yet it could have been avoided had there been effective planning, management, monitoring and coordination of the relevant activities."
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