Water bosses plead guilty over 'catastrophic' Avonmouth blast that killed four

Résumé détaillé

The Health & Safety Executive charged Wessex Water as a corporate body under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 after the December 2020 blast

A water company has admitted failings over the deaths of three men and a teenage boy who were killed in a "catastrophic explosion" that "should never have occurred".

Luke Wheaton, 16, Ray White, 57, Brian Vickery, 63, and Mike James, 64, died in the blast at the Wessex Water site in Avonmouth, near Bristol, on December 3 2020.

Police said there was insufficient evidence for a manslaughter charge - but the Health and Safety Executive prosecuted Wessex Water for the devastating tragedy. Today, at Bristol Magistrates' Court, representatives entered guilty to three offences under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

District Judge Lynne Matthews heard Wessex Water failed to ensure the health, safety and welfare of all employees - including Luke, Mr Vickery and Mr White - in relation to risks arising from its use of silos for the storage of treated sewage waste between January 1 2013 and December 4 2020.

Wessex Water is also charged with failing to ensure that people not in its employment - including contractor Mr James - were not exposed to risks to their health and safety between the same dates.

The final charge relates to a company failing to comply with an improvement notice, served on January 2021, requiring it to demonstrate by March 12 2021 that it had made "a suitable and sufficient assessment" of fire and explosion risks arising from dangerous substances produced, processed or used on the Avonmouth site.

Judge Matthews adjourned the case to Bristol Crown Court on January 8. She said: "Those guilty pleas have been entered and I commit this matter to the crown court at Bristol for sentence."

Mr James was working as a contractor at the site at the time of the explosion, while Mr Vickery and Mr White were employees of Wessex Water and Luke was an apprentice at the firm.

Emergency services were called to reports of a large blast involving one of the chemical tanks at around 11.20am on the day of the tragedy. The explosion tore through a silo that held treated biosolids.

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