Report blasts college over gas explosion

Kaitaia College has been criticised for not replacing leaking gas valves before an explosion that sent six students and a teacher to hospital.

It is nearly seven months since the explosion in a metalwork classroom blew out cladding on one wall and hurled tools 16m, leaving them embedded in a wall at the other end of the room.

Two students sustained serious head injuries in the April 11 blast, which was so powerful it lifted a 110kg-plus teacher aide.

A report by the Department of Labour body Occupational Safety and Health yesterday found the explosion was caused by the ignition of leaking acetylene gas used for welding.

No charges would be laid against the school because "evidential matters cannot be conclusively resolved", the report said.

The welding equipment was destroyed so it was impossible to tell if the gas had leaked through a valve or a welding torch, or if the torch had been left on. The report, written by OSH inspector Philip Bailey, criticised the school for several events leading up to the blast.

He said a teacher at the school had reportedly said new equipment was not bought because the principal and the school lacked the money.

"Following the department's investigation it appears the principal Mr (William) Tailby ... may have failed to take all practicable steps to ensure that no action or inaction of the employee while at work causes harm to any other person," Mr Bailey said.

Other criticisms included:

* Mr Tailby did not understand that gas control valves a teacher had wanted replaced needed to be fixed sooner rather than later.

* A form asking for "outdated and dangerous" equipment to be replaced, filled out some time between November last year and April, was not seen by the appropriate staff member until around July.

* Some staff were not fully co-operative with OSH inspectors during interviews.

Labour Department chief adviser for health and safety Mike Cosman said legal action was not possible because the difficulty with the gap in evidence meant "it wasn't clear where the bulk of responsibility lay". He said a report from BOC Gas in Auckland, which supplied the equipment around four years ago, showed the school had been told in November last year to upgrade its gas equipment, particularly the control valves.

The school asked the gas company to investigate the equipment after a welding torch flash-backed, with the flame burning back up the hose.

Mr Cosman said the 18 teenage boys were "exceptionally lucky" they were not killed by tools that hurtled through the air.

"The building could have collapsed and the students could have been hit by falling debris," he said.

The school refused to comment yesterday.

- NZPA