AWE fined more than £650,000 after electrical incident at Aldermaston site
Company 'deeply regrets' incident
AWE has been fined more than £650,000 following a health and safety breach.
The fine was in relation to an incident at AWE’s Aldermaston site in June 2019, when a contractor narrowly avoided injury after one of their tools made contact with a live conductor from a 415V electrical source.
The company, which manufactures the UK nuclear deterrent Trident, entered a guilty plea to a charge brought by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) under Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
The company was sentenced and fined £660,000 at High Wycombe Magistrates Court on Monday, December 7. AWE was also ordered to pay costs of £9,945.71.
AWE said that the incident was a conventional health and safety matter which posed no nuclear risk to workers or members of the public.
AWE plc chief executive Alison Atkinson said: “I deeply regret that the incident of 20 June 2019 occurred, and recognise that on this occasion, AWE fell short in its legal duty to protect the safety of workers employed by a contractor on our site.
“We take our health and safety responsibilities extremely seriously and have co-operated fully with the ONR throughout the course of the investigation.
“We remain committed to achieving the highest standards in safety performance, working collaboratively with our regulators, contractors and partners.”
The prosecution was the result of an investigation into the incident by ONR, the UK’s independent nuclear safety regulator.
ONR’s deputy chief inspector and director of operating facilities regulation Donald Urquhart said: “We welcome today’s outcome, which recognises that AWE plc fell short of its duty to protect the safety of a contractor working on its site.
“This related to a conventional safety hazard and, had the correct safety arrangements been in place, could and should have been avoided. Fortunately, in this case, the individual involved narrowly avoided serious harm.
“I’m pleased that AWE recognises that it failed to deliver its legal duty to protect this worker in this instance. Whilst AWE has introduced and is delivering a programme of electrical safety improvements, it is clear that there is still further work to be done. I have asked my team of inspectors on this site to maintain regulatory oversight of delivery of these improvements.
“As an independent regulator, ONR holds dutyholders to account on behalf of workers and the public and won’t hesitate to take such enforcement action as is necessary to do so.”
