Andrew Jones Pies has been found guilty of health and safety breaches, after an employee was killed in a gas explosion at its factory, it has been reported.
On 10 April 2009, 37-year-old baker David Cole was killed instantly after an explosion caused part of the roof to fall at the factory in Huddersfield, starting a fire.
The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) was prosecuting the firm in regards to a number of health and safety breaches at the bakery, with a guilty verdict on all three counts returned at Leeds Crown Court last week, according to sister publication Food Manufacture.
In November 2010, an inquest jury returned a verdict of ‘accidental death’. It heard that gas had built up in the baking chamber as staff tried to light the oven between 10 to 20 times.
They were also told that, when the oven exploded, the ‘safety’ explosion relief panel failed to act as it should have because it had been fixed with the wrong kind of bolts. In the blast, the oven door hit Cole with such force that he was flung across the bakery and the ceiling collapsed on top of him.
The HSE said it would not be commenting further on the court case until sentencing had taken place, which is expected in the next few weeks.
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