Report warned of Bosley mill explosion risk

A wood mill was warned of the risk of a "devastating" explosion just months before the blast which killed four workers, a court heard.

A firm and its director are on trial over the deaths at Wood Flour Mills in Bosley, Cheshire, in July 2015.

A jury was told on Tuesday a report calling for urgent action over safety standards at the site was largely ignored.

The accused deny manslaughter charges.

Workers Derek Moore, Dorothy Bailey, Jason Shingler and Derek William Barks died in the blast. Others were said in court to have received "horrendous injuries".

On the second day of trial at a Chester Town Hall nightingale court, the prosecution highlighted a report that it said was made in April 2015, following a visit to the site by a risk analyst for insurance purposes.

The jury was told the report called for a rolling programme of cleaning to be implemented by 1 July to remove a build-up of wood dust, which, Tony Badenoch QC said, could be a "significant explosion hazard".

The report was said in court to state: "While normal business operations do not result in significant dust explosions, there is a risk that a small explosion, or other disturbance, may cause settled dusts to become airborne, perhaps in sufficient concentration to provide an explosive mixture.

"Typically, 'secondary' explosions are devastating."

Mr Badenoch told the jury: "This case is concerned with a secondary explosion which, to use the language of this report, was devastating."

He added while the report was seen by Wood Treatment Ltd director George Boden, the response was to come up with a document on site cleaning that "paid lip-service" to the warning "at best".

The prosecution said that attitude was consistent "with other insurer requests previously, and work practices remained unchanged".

Mr Boden, 64, of Church Road, Stockport, - who was on holiday at the time of the blast - denies four counts of gross negligence manslaughter, along with a health and safety offence.

Wood Treatment Ltd denies four charges of corporate manslaughter. It has admitted a health and safety offence.

The body of Mr Shingler, a 38-year-old charge-hand, was never found in the destruction.

The remains of the mill's only cleaner Ms Bailey, 62; maintenance fitter Mr Barks, known as Will, 51; and mill worker Mr Moore, 62, were recovered in the days following the explosion.

Operations manager Philip Smith, 58, of Raglan Road, Macclesfield and mill manager Peter Shingler, 56, of Tunstall Road, Bosley, both deny a health and safety offence.

The trial continues.

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