A TASER was accidentally fired at a nuclear power station, a new report shows.
The Police Investigations & Review Commissioner (PIRC) report said a failure to follow safe storage rules resulted in a Civil Nuclear police officer accidentally setting off a Taser at Hunterston B Power Station, North Ayrshire, on 7 March 2015.
The report concluded that the incident would not have happened if the weapon been secured properly and kept in its holster.
Nobody was injured and no property was damaged.
In the document, published today (Thursday 2 July 2015) the Commissioner found that, before a training event, officers were allowed to store body armour – with Tasers attached – in personal lockers in a changing area.
The report said this was due to an absence sufficient storage facilities that day.
A Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) officer took his Taser from its holster due to a lack of space in one of the lockers.
When he went to get the weapon back out after training , he accidentally fired it.
The incident was referred to the PIRC for independent investigation.
PIRC Commissioner Kate Frame, said:“The incident would not have happened if practice and procedures for the safe storage of weapons had been followed.
“Since the event, the CNC has taken steps to improve its procedures and instructed its officers that they should only remove weapons from their holsters during issue and return, or when they are being operationally deployed.”
