Worker who halted gas work called 'trouble-causer'

When a gas company employee had used a system that stopped work they thought was dangerous, they were seen as "a bit of a trouble-causer", a court has heard.

Ten people died following the gas explosion at the Haut du Mont flats in St Helier in the early hours of 10 December 2022.

The jury heard evidence from Luke Le Brocq, who was working for Island Energy with John Wright, 60, and Neil Armstrong, 58, to disconnect a gas pipe that serviced the flats in the days before the explosion.

Gas workers Armstrong, Wright and Lee Ward, 59, deny 10 counts of gross negligence manslaughter and Island Energy has also pleaded not guilty in a combined health and safety case.

The residents who died were Peter Bowler, 72, Billy Marsden, 62, Derek Ellis, 61, Sylvia Ellis, 73, Ken Ralph, 72, Jane Ralph, 71, Romeu De Almeida, 67, Louise De Almeida, 64, Raymond Brown, 71, and Kathy McGinness, 73.

Le Brocq worked for Island Energy for less than six months as an assistant network fitter and left shortly after the explosion.

He told the Royal Court there was a red card policy that allowed employees to ask for work to be stopped if they had safety concerns, but senior management had labelled a person who had previously used it as "a bit of a trouble-causer".

Le Brocq said of the red card policy before the explosion: "I would refer to it as a paper policy than it actually being successful in practice."

The prosecution mentioned the red card policy in its opening argument but said it had not been used, despite Ward and Wright later having expressed misgivings about the work they had been asked to do the day before the explosion.

Le Brocq said before the explosion he did not feel he could speak about an issue with management: "You could speak up but wouldn't be listened to much more than that."

He said after the explosion external supervisors from the UK had joined the company and regularly appeared at jobs.

Le Brocq said those going to jobs were also given more detailed instructions on how to do a specific operation and described it as "quite a significant change".

The trial continues.

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