ISLAND Energy’s working practices was “unprofessional” and the firm had “quite a toxic environment”, the woman hired to head up the HR department has said during the Royal Court trial into the Haut du Mont explosion.
Giving evidence on Thursday, Kimberley Paterson told the jury that the company’s HR policies had “basic things missing” and elements of it were “shocking”.
“It was very outdated,” she told the jury. “There was one employee handbook that referred to ‘faxing’ the finance department – there wasn’t a single fax in the place.”
She referred to being met with resistance when, in April 2022, she attempted to integrate consistent “performance management reviews” into the Island Energy work stream.
“I don’t think people particularly wanted to do performance management reviews,” she stated. “I don’t think they took it seriously, and they just thought it was a waste of time, and they wanted to get on with the job.
“It wasn’t like a corporate environment where people would understand why it is important to do those reviews.”
Ms Paterson said she was hired by former Island Energy chief executive Jo Cox as chief people officer in September 2021.
She explained that she had met Ms Cox, who used to work for Sure Mobile, while working at the Royal Bank of Scotland.
“What were you told [by Ms Cox] about the job before you arrived at Island Energy?”, Crown Advocate Paul Lee, prosecuting, asked.
“She told me that the place was in a bit of a mess culturally,” Ms Paterson answered. “It was quite a toxic environment and that there was a lack of any HR department – it was just one lady in the Isle of Man.”
The prosecutor asked her how she perceived the “culture” at Island Energy to be upon her arrival to the senior management team.
“Unprofessional,” the witness replied. “I think the way in which people spoke to each other was unprofessional and there was a lack of respect.
“I’d come from a corporate background where people didn’t swear and curse, so that was quite unusual for me coming out of a corporate world and coming to the kind of industry where people spoke to each other in that way.”
The trial previously heard that Mr Wright – one of the team leaders alleged to have caused the explosion – had “raised issues of bullying” within the company between February and March 2022.
It was heard that Mr Wright flagged his concerns with the then Island Energy commercial sales manager Andrew Robinson and former customer operations service manager Paul Hanley.
Jurors were told that an out-of-office meeting was arranged, but that a “plan” to resolve the issues was never brought to fruition.
Giving evidence last Tuesday, former Island Energy asset delivery manager Mark Wheeldon suggested that Mr Wright lacked the “confidence” to challenge his supervisor Mr Armstrong’s “fateful” decision to resupply gas supply to Haut du Mont on 9 December.
In his police interview, he told investigators that Mr Wright may not have been able to tell Mr Armstrong: “No, I’m not doing that.”
But Ms Paterson confirmed that “a lot” of procedural changes were brought in across the business following the Haut du Mont disaster on 10 December 2022.
“An awful lot of resource was suddenly found,” she recalled. “There might have been a third party company brought in, because they recognised that there just wasn’t any people – there wasn’t any people qualified.”
Crown Advocate Paul Lee proceeded to ask whether there was “more engagement” with performance reviews in the aftermath of the tragedy.
“I think so,” the witness said.
Ms Patterson is expected to continue her evidence when the trial recommences on Tuesday.
Jersey Gas, which trades as Island Energy, are charged with two alleged breaches of the Health and Safety at Work (Jersey) Law 1989 in connection with the blast that led to the deaths of ten Islanders on 10 December 2022.
Island Energy employees Neil Armstrong (58), John Wright (60) and Lee Ward (59) are also charged with, and deny, ten counts of gross negligence manslaughter for their alleged role in the disaster.
Commissioner Andrew Oldland is presiding. The trial continues.
