National Grid has been fined £4 million for passing on incomplete records to Cadent when it spun off and sold its gas distribution networks in 2016.
The records concern gas risers in high-rise multiple occupancy buildings which were found to be incomplete after the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) requested the information from gas distribution networks in June 2017.
A subsequent investigation by HSE found the records had not been subject to any audits or reviews when the issue to came to light the following December, and as such Cadent were only inspecting the building on the existing database.
Records on 769 buildings were missing, meaning the gas risers in these building had not undergone a condition survey, inspection or routine maintenance in a number of years. The investigation also found that National Grid had failed to ensure that 112 buildings had pipeline isolation valves, meaning the gas in these buildings could not be isolated in the event of an incident.
On the basis of these findings, HSE undertook a criminal investigation to consider the risks that residents and members of the public were exposed to as a result of the breaches of health and safety legislation. HSE issued enforcement notices requiring Cadent to take remedial in April, which the company complied with by the following September.
National Grid was yesterday (9 February) fined £4 million and order to pay almost £92,000 of costs after pleading guilty on 6 November 2020 to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
HM principal inspector for HSE, Julie Voce, said: “This case had wide-ranging implications. Our investigations found that people living and working in the high-rise buildings where the failings took place were not protected from the risk of gas leaks.
“National Grid Gas did not have a robust system for recording the details of the gas pipes within these buildings. Opportunities arose where National Grid Gas identified data errors, but these were never satisfactorily acted upon, and opportunities to correct the situation were missed.
“This sentence reflects how important it is when companies are charged with ensuring records that could keep people safe and well are up to date, that they make that task a priority.”
National Grid said in a statement: “We apologise unreservedly for the company’s failings that occurred before October 2016. Notwithstanding the overarching safety management system we had in place at all times to reduce risk, we should nevertheless have ensured that we had full and accurate records of all our assets in high rise buildings.
“We have taken action to ensure that the rest of the company did not and will not in future suffer from any of the same or similar issues and are satisfied that the company has robust systems in place for recording and managing its assets.”