an explosion at a construction site<\/a>\u00a0in Auckland’s Wynyard Quarter.<\/p>\nWorkSafe said a barbecue gas bottle was mistakenly left running overnight in a shipping container.<\/p>\n
When workers from subcontractor Vuksich and Borich opened the container the next day, they could smell gas.<\/p>\n
One of the workers joked about igniting his lighter and when he did, the gas caught fire and exploded.<\/p>\n
The man who ignited his lighter has expressed deep regret over his actions and undergone restorative justice with the other victims.<\/p>\n
WorkSafe area investigation manager Paul Budd said being safe at work was a responsibility shared by both the employer and the employee.<\/p>\n
“No one should be harmed because of a prank or joke gone wrong.<\/p>\n
“Our message is not about banning barbecues or restricting workplace socialising, but about keeping health and safety in mind whether you’re on the clock or taking a break together.”<\/p>\n
Budd said it worked with Vuksich and Borich to give workers further training in the aftermath of the explosion and identified issues related to gas bottle storage.<\/p>\n
“To further strengthen its safety management system, the company has since introduced a barbecue permit procedure and prohibits storage of gas cylinders or gas bottles inside shipping containers,” he said.<\/p>\n
“In relation to the incident itself we won’t carry out further enforcement, because prosecuting an individual or organisation is not in the public interest in this instance.”<\/p>\n
WorkSafe Energy Safety’s technical officer Paul Stannard said the incident was a reminder of the risks that existed with gas.<\/p>\n
“If you smell gas anywhere, take it seriously.<\/p>\n
“In some of the most significant gas-related events that have come to the attention of Energy Safety in the last few years, people have smelled gas but may not have recognised it as a warning sign.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
VIA RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A gas explosion that left five workers in central Auckland with serious burns was due to a prank gone wrong, WorkSafe says. Last August five people, some with critical injuries, were taken to Middlemore Hospital after\u00a0an explosion at a construction site\u00a0in Auckland’s Wynyard Quarter. WorkSafe said a barbecue gas bottle was mistakenly left running overnight […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":7270,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[222,174],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-nz-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7269"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7271,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7269\/revisions\/7271"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}