National Grid fined £3.2 million after pylon worker suffers life-changing burns

The National Grid has been fined over £3 million after its failure to prevent life-changing injuries to a father-of-two who was working on a pylon in South Wales.

Justin Hollins (50), an employee of 4 Power Ltd, was replacing step bolts on the pylon at Treforest Industrial Estate in Pontypridd when he was hit with a 33,000-volt electric shock. The shock inflicted burns to 40% of his body, including his arms and leg. Mr Hollins lost part of his right buttock, and suffered nerve damage, affecting his mobility.

Mr Hollins, who was wearing a climbing harness at the time of the accident, was left hanging on the pylon for some time before his colleagues rescued him. One worker “saw Mr Hollins hanging from his harness and thought he was dead”.

In his first 10 days in Swansea’s Morriston Hospital, Mr Hollins went through six operations. His injuries were so serious, he was in 24-hour care for months afterwards. In a personal impact statement, he described this period:

“This was a very difficult time, with relentless operations and endless, painful changing of dressings. Every day was a huge battle.

“I stopped needing to attend hospital appointments in August 2022 but will remain a burns patient for the rest of my life.

“At the time of my accident I was in peak physical condition, which I was told by the hospital is probably the reason I survived.

“I have been stripped of the opportunity to provide for my family doing the job I loved.

“Although I appreciate that I have been lucky to survive, I have to live with the physical and mental effects of the accident for life. I also have to live with the uncertainty of the long term damage 33,000 volts have done to my internal organs.”

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The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) investigation of events found that Cheshire-based firm 4 Power Ltd had failed to properly plan and assess the risks of working on the pylon. HSE’s own assessment found the arms of the pylon were too short – this made it impossible for Mr Hollins to maintain a safe working distance from the live wire.

The safe distance for working near the live wire on the pylon was 1.1 metres (3ft 7in), but the work required Mr Hollins to come as close as 61.5cm (2ft). At that distance, there is no need for direct contact to receive a shock, as the electricity can ‘arc’ through the air into a person’s body.

The law tightly restricts work with live electricity, yet National Grid Electricity Distribution (South Wales) Plc had failed to ensure that the electricity was off when Mr Hollins was working on the pylon.

4 Power Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. They were fined £80,000 and ordered to pay costs of £14,123.

National Grid Electricity Distribution (South Wales) Plc pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 14 of the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989. The judge, the Recorder of Cardiff, Tracey-Lloyd Clarke, fined National Grid £3.2 million and ordered them to pay £20,460 in costs.

She said the fines needed to be “sufficiently substantial to have a real economic impact”.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Rhys Hughes said:

“The injuries sustained by Mr Hollins have been truly life-changing. He is lucky to be alive.

“Those in control of work have a responsibility to devise safe methods of working and to provide the necessary information and instruction to workers.

“What is so frustrating in incidents like these is, if a safe system of work had been in place before the incident, his injuries would have been prevented.”