A WRITTEN plan setting out how to carry out work safely would have “definitely” identified problems that emerged hours before the Haut du Mont explosion, a UK safety expert told the Royal Court.
Martin Wayland said the Island Energy workers carrying out work the day before the blast should have stopped after the St Helier Yacht Club unexpectedly lost its gas and there should not have been a rush to get it reconnected.
“This wasn’t an emergency in my view,” the senior safety inspector with the UK Health and Safety Executive said.
“People should’ve stepped back and had a consideration about what had gone on that day and the reasons behind the loss of gas, the extent of the issue, and how to reinstate gas supplies.”
Mr Wayland was giving evidence about work carried out by Island Energy employees outside Commercial Buildings on 9 December 2022.
The prosecution has alleged that the explosion the following morning was a direct result of work carried out “exceptionally badly” by Neil Armstrong (58), John Wright (60) and Lee Ward (59) at the excavation site.
The three men each deny ten counts of gross-negligence manslaughter over the deaths of ten people in the disaster.
Jersey Gas, which trades as Island Energy, denies two alleged breaches of the Health and Safety at Work (Jersey) Law 1989.
The operations team had intended to disconnect Haut du Mont from the gas network but discovered after cutting the pipe that the Yacht Club had also lost its supply.
The prosecution has argued that this should have alerted the workers that the pipes did not run as they had believed.
Instead, the excavation was dug back up, and work began to reconnect the pipe so gas could be restored to the Yacht Club, which was due to host an event that evening.
Mr Wright, a mains layer and team leader in Island Energy’s network operations department, told police in an interview played to the court this week that “panic stations kicked in” after the Yacht Club lost its gas.
He said the team was “being pushed” to restore the supply by 6pm.
Mr Wayland told the jury that a ‘routine operation’, or RO, should have been prepared before the work began.
An RO is a written plan setting out how the job should be carried out safely and what workers should do if something unexpected happens.
The court heard that no RO had been prepared for the work that day.
Mr Wayland said having one in place would have “definitely” identified the unexpected loss of gas at the Yacht Club as a problem, as well as the presence of an open valve at the rear of Haut du Mont.
The prosecution had alleged that gas escaped through the open valve and into the building before the explosion the following morning.
Under cross-examination by Advocate Rui Tremoceiro, defending Mr Armstrong, Mr Wayland said Mr Armstrong “shouldn’t have been left to mark his homework”.
He said: “The underlying policies and procedures the company had should’ve ensured that shouldn’t have happened.”
Opening the case, Crown Advocate Simon Thomas said Mr Armstrong had been allowed to plan the job while also effectively approving and supervising it.
He also alleged that Island Energy did not have adequate systems in place to make sure work was properly planned and independently checked.
Advocate Mark Boothman, defending Mr Wright, later asked Mr Wayland whether Island Energy had suitable and sufficient systems in place. “No,” he replied.
Mr Wayland said the Yacht Club had lost its supply because the pipe had been cut in the wrong place. He said this was partly down to poor planning of the work and partly to the way it was carried out by the three Island Energy employees.
Commissioner Andrew Oldland is presiding.
The trial continues.
