Court Fines Briar Chemicals £1 Million After Fatal Norwich Blast
Sept. 20, 2021
The explosion killed a 46-year-old maintenance contractor.
Briar Chemicals is ordered to pay £1 Million after a fatal explosion at its plant in Norwich, UK, according to an article from ITV. Chelmsford Magistrates Court fined the company for the July 2018 blast that killed 46-year-old maintenance contractor Rob Cranston.
According to the article, Cranston was carrying out repair work on a mixing vessel at the plant during a planned shutdown. It it is believed his welding torch or grinder ignited flammable toluene vapor that should not have been there. A Health and Safety Executive investigation found that a quantity of toluene residue had been left inside the vessel after the shutdown. Cranston’s 22-year-old son was working alongside him at the time of the explosion
