THE accidental discharge of a Taser by a Civil Nuclear police officer at the Hunterston B plant has been blamed on a failure to follow procedures.

The Police Investigations & Review Commissioner (PIRC) concluded that the incident would not have happened had the weapon been secured properly and retained within its holster.

Nobody was injured and no property was damaged following the discharge of the ‘conducted energy device’ in a changing area at Hunterston B on March 7.

In an investigation report published last week, the Commissioner found that, prior to attending a training event, officers were allowed to store their body armour – with Tasers attached – in personal lockers in a changing area due to an absence on that day of sufficient storage facilities.

One Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) officer removed his Taser from its holster due to a lack of space in one of the lockers.  On retrieving the weapon following the training event, he accidently discharged it.  The incident was referred to the PIRC for independent investigation.  The Commissioner, Kate Frame, commented: “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.”