A company has been prosecuted for failing to ensure the safety of their employees following the death of a woman in an explosion - 20th January 2010

A global defence company faces a heavy fine following an explosion at its plant in Lancashire in which a woman suffered fatal workplace injuries.

BAE Systems pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the safety of its employees thereby breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 after the accident which killed Lynda Wilkins.

Mrs Wilkins had been working with lead styphnate, a sensitive primary explosive at the company’s explosives plant in Chorley in 2005. Though the cause for the explosion remains unknown, the HSE found that there was too little supervision and monitoring by the company.

BAE Systems was fined £80,000 at Liverpool Crown Court and ordered to pay £118,000 towards the prosecution costs.

The family of Mrs Wilkins has been trying without success to find out exactly happened to cause her death, one possibility is that a small static charge could have triggered the explosion.

HSE Inspector Colin Hutchinson said: “The substance she was using is known to be extremely sensitive and must be handled carefully. BAE Systems failed to ensure the process was properly supervised and monitored. Explosives companies must learn from this incident by making sure their safety procedures are both sufficient and rigidly followed to avoid needless loss of life in the future.”

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