SCRAPYARD owner John Holland has been ordered to pay more than £5,000 after an explosion on his premises nearly killed one of his workers.

Magistrates in Chippenham were told on Monday that David King, who had worked for Holland for 12 years, suffered a broken left leg and serious injuries to his right leg and kneecap in the blast.

The accident happened in February at Holland Handling, at Braydon, near Malmesbury.

Richard Stead, defending, said Holland, who admitted a charge of exposing his employees to the risk of injury, was deeply remorseful.

"Great sorrow is felt by Mr Holland for the injuries caused to David King," said Mr Stead.

"He (Mr King) has been an employee for 12 years and part of the family within the business. Mr Holland hopes that he will be returning to work at the business."

The accident happened at the recycling and skip hire plant, when Mr King was cutting open an empty drum using an oxyacetylene torch.

The gases from the torch and the empty drum reacted and caused an explosion that shattered Mr King's leg.

At the time of the accident he was taken to Swindon's Princess Margaret Hospital and police told him he was lucky to escape with his life.

Mr Stead said that if Mr King had taken the plug out of the drum to release the gases, the accident would not have occurred.

"Mr King had done the procedure many times before but this time there was a more pressing matter as there was a hydraulic leak on an implement and Mr King wanted to cut the drum in half to collect the leaking oil," he said.

But health and safety officer Frederick Tucker, prosecuting, said there were no written instructions in the company's manual and therefore it was responsible.

"The company failed to have a risk assessment or method statement in their safety manual on how to operate the drums," said Mr Tucker.

But he accepted that Holland had been very co-operative with the health and safety investigations and the company had no health and safety breaches in its 20-year history.

Mr Stead said that the company's safety procedures had been run by Holland's brother Pete, who died in November 2000 from a rare bone marrow cancer. The safety manual had not been updated since his death.

Magistrates said they recognised that Holland had taken steps since the accident to remedy the situation.

"We have taken into account the circumstances of the events and that Mr Holland has shown co-operation with the health and safety executive," said magistrates chairman Mike Sutton.

Holland was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay costs of £3,338.