Factory explosion at Allscott, Wellington
Colleagues of a worker who died after an explosion at the Allscott factory in Wellington have described finding his body at a Telford inquest.
Found covered in hot coals, Robert Howe died from his injuries after a boiler exploded at the sugar beet factory.
Having suffered severe burns, the 52 year old from Wellington was covered in soot and later died in hospital from more than 60% burns. A man was also released from hospital after treatment.
Graham Foster, an Engineer said that the room was black with coal and soot and he saw how badly burned Mr Howe was.
David Urpeth, a Partner at law firm Irwin Mitchell said: Employers have a duty to carry our risk assessment and then take necessary steps to provide workers with a safe place of work and systems that prevent work accidents.
Whilst the exact circumstances of this tragic industrial accident are not known, something obviously went very wrong and let to this workplace accident.
I represent many people who have been injured or killed in workplace accidents and I have significant specialist experience of handling cases involving an explosion at work.
Mr Urpeth represented over 75 workers and many residents who were injured in the 2001 explosion at the Killingholme refinery when over 170 tonnes of liquid petroleum gas caught fire. Conoco-Phillips, who owned the plant, was eventually fined £1m for breaching health and safety regulations after the explosion at its Humber refinery.
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