Boy partially blinded in UK rail detonator explosion

[John Ashworth]

Action after boy partially blinded in Essex rail detonator explosion

Network Rail has been criticised after a teenager lost the sight in his right eye when a railway detonator exploded.

The injury happened after detonators - which are used as fog signals - were taken from a depot in Leigh-on-Sea and put on on a bonfire at a nearby park...

[Dylan Knott]

Not quite sure how its their fault.

If you want to set fire to a detonator then thats your problem.

[M. Hardy-Randall]

At present in the United Kingdom, there appears to be an atmosphere of, no matter what you do, it is somebody else whose fault it is if something goes wrong. I do not know how it started, and more worryingly how it can be reversed, so that an individual is responsible for his/her actions especially when it come to breaking the law.

Now where did I put my soapbox?

[John Ashworth]

At one level I agree with you completely. It seems a person is not responsible for his/her own actions even if those actions are illegal and/or stupid.

On the other hand, there may still be questions for Network Rail about the storage and control of detonators, which are explosives and are thus subject to quite stringent regulation.