Grundfos Pumps Limited has been fined £300,000 after a trainee design engineer lost his life.
19-year-old trainee design engineer Jake Herring came into contact with a live three-phase electrical system and died from his injuries. He was carrying our electrical testing work at the Grundfos Pumps factory in Windsor and was working unsupervised while testing a live electrical control panel.
Grundfos Pumps, was this week prosecuted for the incident, which took place on 30th March 2009. Jake
The company appeared at Reading Crown Court on Monday 11th May 2015 and was fined £300,000, with total costs of £115,000 after pleading guilty to breaching the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 3, (1) (a), and the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 Reg 3, (1)(a), contrary to Regulation 14.
Health & Safety Executive inspector Paul Williams said: “This tragic incident could and should have been avoided. Grundfos Pumps Limited’s failure to adequately risk assess the electrical testing process led to an unsafe system work being in place. Training and supervision arrangements were clearly inadequate. If live electrical testing has to be undertaken, suitable precautions must be in place.”
