23 October 2025
On 18 September 2025 in the Royal Court, Morris Marine and Motors Ltd, a local vehicle repair firm, was sentenced to a fine of £20,000 plus £5,000 in costs after an apprentice marine mechanic was severely burned following the ignition of flammable brake cleaner vapours on 28 July 2023.
The 18 year old apprentice had been using highly flammable brake cleaner and rags to remove dirt and grime from the interior of a boat bilge prior to the installation of a new bilge pump later in the day. His supervisor had left the boat a few minutes previously to obtain a boat part leaving the apprentice working alone.
In a toolbox left immediately adjacent to where the apprentice was working was a blowtorch. The apprentice picked up the blowtorch and ignited it which immediately ignited the highly flammable vapours of the brake cleaner within and emanating from the boat bilge.
The apprentice escaped the bilge and leapt six feet from the boat to the ground, removing the t-shirt and gloves he had been wearing. The apprentice was severely burned and the skin on his hands was de-gloved as a result. After running to the Morris Marine headquarters, He was taken to hospital by colleagues before being transferred to Salisbury for further treatment to his burn injuries.
The Health and Safety Inspectorate’s investigation into the incident found that the company:
- failed to suitably risk assessed the use of using flammable brake cleaner and fabric rags as means to clean boat bilges
- had not identified suitable risk control measures for the risk of fire or explosion while working in a confined space with a potentially flammable atmosphere, in line with information it had in its possession such as the Safety Data Sheet for the brake cleaner which specified a range of risk control measures that should have been deployed
- failed to deliver suitable or sufficient training or supervision to the apprentice on the risks associated with the use of brake cleaner to clean boat bilges
Since the incident, Morris Marine and Motors Ltd engaged a competent health and safety consultant to assist with completing risk assessments and safe systems of work for its activities, including for bilge cleaning and the use of brake cleaner.
As part of the safe systems of work arising from the new risk assessments:
- all ignition sources are removed from the location of bilges whilst they are being cleaned with brake cleaner
- the information provided by the Safety Data Sheets for the brake cleaner has been incorporated into the risk assessments and safe systems of work
These measures were available to the company before the incident. The suitability of these measures remains the company’s ongoing responsibility to monitor and review.
The full judgement can be found below.
AG v Morris Marine & Motors Limited 18 September 2025
gov.je