A COMPANY has been fined £15,000 for breaching safety regulations after an engineer was badly burned following an explosion at an Edinburgh pizza restaurant.
Kevin Gillanders, an engineer with Capital Cooling Limited, had been called to Mamma’s American Pizza restaurant in the Grassmarket to repair a faulty refrigerator that was not holding a cold enough temperature.
During his work a massive explosion suddenly threw him backwards as a fireball shot across the pizza kitchen.
His face, arms and hands suffered 12 per cent burns and both his ear drums were perforated, causing hearing problems.
Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told yesterday that Mr Gillanders had accidentally been given a cylinder of oxygen instead of nitrogen by his service manager at Capital Cooling to carry out the repair on August 28, 2001.
Prosecutor Malcolm Stewart said the engineer used the oxygen, believing it was nitrogen, to conduct a pressure test and check for leaks.
“It is rather like blowing up a bicycle tyre to find a puncture,” Mr Stewart told Sheriff Neil MacKinnon.
When this failed to solve the problem, Mr Gillanders took a blowtorch to the refrigerator welds to check if they were leaking. The combination of oxygen and heat, pressurised within the cooling system, caused a huge explosion.
Pizza chef Monique Leather, who at the time was cleaning ovens, watched in horror as a fireball shot past her.
The distressed chef ran from the restaurant in shock and was later treated for cuts and bruises.
A mother and baby who lived in the flat above Mamma’s were taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary for a precautionary check-up.
Two other women, aged 19 and 20, were treated at the scene by paramedics for minor injuries and shock.
The blast showered the pavement with glass from a blown-out window and rocked a tenement block above the pizzeria.
The Edinburgh Castle side of the Grassmarket was sealed off and residents had to be evacuated from adjacent buildings while safety checks were carried out.
The prosecutor explained that the engineer had been given the wrong cylinder at the company’s Broxburn depot following confusion over a new European system of colour coding.
Defence agent Paul Reid said that the confusion was due to a breakdown of communication between managers who had begun dealing with a Belgian supplier. The firm had since stopped using the European source.
Managers at Capital Cooling condemned the dangerous use of the blowtorch by Mr Gillanders, no matter what gas he was dealing with.
The engineer currently relies on a hearing aid in one ear, but doctors hope this damage may heal with time. Psychologically, he says he is still struggling to come to terms with the accident.
Sheriff MacKinnon fined Capital Cooling, which has a turnover of several million pounds, £15,000.
“These were very unfortunate consequences for the individuals mentioned. Such gases must be treated with extreme care,” he said. The company had pleaded guilty to two charges of breaching health and safety regulations.
Alister McLean, Capital Cooling Limited managing director, said: “It was an unfortunate series of events which happened where there were faults on both sides.
“We take health and safety very seriously and we have to go forward now.”
>From Edinburgh News