A DEVON engineering company and its directors have been fined a total of £85,000 after an employee was fatally injured in an explosion.

Father-of-two Tony Reed (40), formerly of Tiverton, died after an oil drum blew up as he welded it at R J Bateman in Chulmleigh.

The firm and its directors, father and son, Richard and Jason Bateman, admitted five charges brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) at Exeter Crown Court.

The court heard that the company had failed to train staff properly.

The fatal blast was the latest in a series of health and safety failings which saw two other workers injured in 2004 and 2005.

Mr Reed had only started with the company one month earlier. He was welding some practice pieces on a make-shift work bench, consisting of a metal plate supported by a modified 200-litre coolant drum.

The drum was being used to collect waste materials at the company's factory site in Bycott, Chulmleigh, including highly flammable liquids that were ignited.

Mr Reed suffered serious head injuries in the subsequent explosion and died in hospital from his injuries eight days later, on April 3 2006.

The company, which makes crop spraying equipment at the Chulmleigh factory, pleaded guilty to breaches under Section 2 and 3 of the Health and Safety at Work (HSWA) etc. Act 1974. Richard and John Bateman both admitted a breach of Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 at Exeter Crown Court.

Mr Reed was a novice welder and the company was found guilty of failing to protect him and other staff working at the factory.

The firm was also found guilty of breaching regulation 3 (1) of the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995, following an earlier incident in November 2004 which the company failed to report to HSE.

On that occasion self-employed worker Trevor McWilliams suffered chest injuries after falling from a roof extension at the factory site in Chulmleigh.

R J Bateman Limited was fined a total of £65,000 (£15,000 for breaching Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act; £5,000 for breaching Regulation 3(1) of the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations and £45,000 for breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act.

R J Bateman Limited was ordered to pay costs of £67,000.

Company director Richard Bateman was fined £10,000 and John Bateman was fined £10,000

Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector, Jo Fitzgerald, said: "This company operates in the sort of industrial environment where there can be significant risks to staff, which must be managed well to keep people safe. The risk of working with flammable substances, in particular, cannot be underestimated.

"Mr Reed should never have been in the position he found himself in, practising his skills using a makeshift set-up with no knowledge of the significant danger in which he had placed himself. This terrible tragedy was the result of years of inadequate health and safety management and could have been avoided if proper systems had been adopted by the company."

The company was also ordered to pay costs amounting to £67,165.