HSE investigating potential link between explosion in Swindon and fatal blast in South Wales
The regulator has issued companies with new guidance, following latest blast
Last updated 13th Oct 2025
The Health and Safety Executive is investigating a potential link between an industrial explosion in Swindon last month and a fatal blast in South Wales.
The regulator says it has 'significant concerns' about the safe use of a particular type of printing machinery, and it is now asking all companies using similar equipment to consult guidance published last year and updated on Friday.
Danielle Evans, 40, from Gorseinon, lost her life in an explosion while working at Treforest Industrial Estate in December 2023. She was a director of a neighbouring food laboratory business. The incident is still being investigated by South Wales Police.
The HSE says a sublimation calender machine manufactured by Diferro was in use at a printers on the Groundwell Industrial Estate, Swindon, where an explosion took place at around 7.30pm on Wednesday 24th . Nobody was injured.
The regulator is now attempting to identify any other users of machines believed to have been sold by two known distributors, and is taking steps to prevent any other Diferro machines coming into the country via liaison with UK border officials.
The HSE is also investigating the design of the machine in question and a possible link with the explosion it describes as 'similiar' in Rhondda Cynon Taff, in 2023.
Following the incident in Swindon, the HSE has reviewed the Product Safety Report and reinforced advice that the device should not be left unattended when connected to the power supply.
Quoted on Friday, Luke Messenger, Head of Technical Product Safety at HSE said: “We have significant concerns about the safe use of these machines. The guidance issued following the Treforest Industrial Estate incident has clear instructions – revisions to this have been published today and we will continue to share any further updates.
“We never want to see a repeat of the fatality in 2023 or the recent catastrophic explosion in Swindon.”