A woman working for business advisory group Deloitte burnt the soles of her feet in what was supposed to be the highlight of a motivational firewalking exercise designed to boost confidence.

The course conducted by Si Group, a corporate development firm was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £4,655 in costs after admitting that it had failed to carry out adequate risk assessments, reports the Times.

It is thought that some of the chemicals used in a pedicure, a few days previously had made the accountant’s feet more sensitive to the heat.

Quoted in the paper, Andy Wolfe, the chief executive of the training company said: “We deeply regret what happened. We’ve learnt from this experience.

“In all honesty it wasn’t a huge incident but it has enabled us to focus on our already stringent procedures – we’ve changed them.”

He said that the company had safely put 6,000 people through the firewalk with this incident being the first in its history.

Deloitte who continue to use Si Group for motivational courses has banned its accountants and other employees from firewalking.