The key facts

  • Wessex Water admitted guilt on three counts under health and safety law after four workers died in the Avonmouth explosion in December 2020
  • Among the dead was 16-year-old apprentice Luke Wheaton; a corporate manslaughter investigation was dropped in 2024
  • The next hearing is scheduled for 8 January at Bristol Crown Court

Guilty plea in court

Wessex Water has pleaded guilty to three charges of breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act. The hearing took place at Bristol Magistrates' Court. The charges concern failing to ensure the health, safety and welfare of employees, failing to ensure the safety of non-employees, and failing to comply with a health and safety improvement notice.

Circumstances of the explosion

The explosion occurred in December 2020 in a silo containing bio-waste — processed organic matter used by farmers as fertiliser — at Wessex Water's treatment works in Avonmouth, near Bristol. Four people died: 16-year-old apprentice Luke Wheaton, 57-year-old Ray White, 63-year-old Brian Vickery and 64-year-old Mike James. All were on the roof of the silo at the time of the explosion. According to available information, James was a contractor, Vickery and White were company employees, and Wheaton was an apprentice.

Investigations and earlier warnings

Avon and Somerset Police dropped its corporate manslaughter investigation in 2024, after which the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) conducted its own investigation into possible breaches of safety legislation. A BBC investigation found that safety reports in the five years before the explosion recorded serious concerns about conditions in part of the plant: they mentioned an 'ideal explosive mixture', a 'serious risk to personnel', and such a strong smell of gas that the authors said they could not remain on site to complete the report. Wessex Water stated that reliable process controls were in place at the facility and that the problems noted in the reports had been resolved; according to the company, the reports concerned a different part of the site, not the one where the explosion occurred.

Next steps

District Judge Lynne Matthews described the case as 'complex and sensitive' and sent it to Bristol Crown Court, where the next hearing is scheduled for 8 January.

Four individual pictures of three men and a teenage boy, spliced together. The first is Luke Wheaton who has dark brown hair. The second is Ray White who has short cropped dark hair. Next to him is James Vickery who was 63 and had short greying hair and on the right is Mike James who is wearing a hat and spectacles with a grey moustache. All four are smiling.Image source, Avon and Somerset Police
Image caption,

Four men - (L-R) Luke Wheaton, Ray White, James Vickery and Mike James - died in the explosion at Avonmouth Sewage Treatment Plant in December 2020

A round silo is pictured with its roof detached from the main structure. It is connected to a structure that has staircases to allow people to climb to the roof. Right next to the roof are three men in protective gear examining the wreck.Image source, European Pressphoto Agency
Image caption,

The workers were on the roof of the silo when it exploded

Luke Wheaton, 16,, Ray White, 57, Brian Vickery, 63, and Mike James, 64A blue metal storage silo that has had its top blown off in an explosion. There is bent metal around the top.