Two Companies Fined Following Fall at Nuclear Power-Plant

Popular energy company EDF and power and technology experts Doosan Babcock Ltd both face fines of £200,000 and £150,000 respectively after a Doosan Babcock employee accidentally fell through a skylight at the power station, Hinkley Point B, leaving him with serious and life-changing injuries.

The Doosan Babcock employee was working at height when he accidentally fell 1.6 metres through a skylight before hitting a cabinet and falling a further 2 metres, gaining substantial injuries including three cracked vertebrae before hitting the floor.

EDF energy was prosecuted by the Office for Nuclear Regulation for offences under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act of 1974, while Doosan Babcock was prosecuted for offences under the Work at Height Regulations Act of 2005. Both companies both plead guilty to these charges, following the Doosan Babcock employee's fall. 

The Deputy Chief Inspector of the Office for Nuclear Regulation, Donald Urquhart said:

The level of financial penalty, in this case, is not a matter on which ONR has a view. As an independent regulator, what matters to me is the safety of workers and the public on and around nuclear-licensed sites, and this prosecution shows we will take robust regulatory action where necessary to ensure that those that we regulate secure and maintain compliance with the law.

“In addition to these legal proceedings, we issued enforceable improvement notices to both EDF and Doosan Babcock, requiring them to put in place appropriate safety measures to ensure that such risks are properly controlled in the future. It is extremely important that lessons are learnt from incidents such as this, and I am pleased to note that both companies have since complied with these notices and have delivered necessary improvements to ensure that such risks are properly controlled."

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