Gas company expected safety to be 'paramount'
BBCA gas explosion that killed 10 people happened because gas workers ignored the company's procedures, a court has heard.
The fatal blast happened at Haut du Mont flats in Jersey in the early hours of 10 December 2022. Gas workers Neil Armstrong, John Wright and Lee Ward all deny 10 counts of gross negligence manslaughter, while Island Energy has pleaded not guilty to two health and safety breaches.
Advocate Mike Preston, defence for Island Energy, told Jersey's Royal Court the explosion happened "because people who knew exactly what they were required to do chose not to do it".
He told jurors the company "expected health and safety to be respected and paramount".
Family HandoutPreston said there "was a failure to follow a safe system", not a failure to create one.
He told jurors "everyone knew safety checks had to be completed" before gas was reintroduced.
"Management was later told that test had been done," he said. "That was untrue.
"Had the pressure test been carried out, the leak would have been found.
"The explosion would not have occurred."
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
- Kathy McGinness, 73, who lived in a building adjacent to Haut du Mont, was taken to hospital and died on 25 December 2022.
The trial continues.
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