Nine people were killed in the explosion last year

Experts made their own inquiries into the blast, looking at the safety measures in place, the structure of the building and the company's accounts.

They told BBC Radio 4's Face the Facts programme they had uncovered several health and safety shortcomings.

A statement issued on behalf of the company said that the academic comments were "grossly misleading".

It added that it could not comment fully while the Crown Office was still considering a report into the blast.

That report by police, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the procurator fiscal was handed over in May - a year after the explosion which claimed nine lives and left many more injured.

GLASGOW BLAST VICTIMS Margaret Brownlie, 49, Strathaven Annette Doyle, 34, Glasgow Peter Ferguson, 52, Kilbarchan Thomas McAulay, 41, Mount Florida, Glasgow Stewart McColl, 60, West Kilbride Tracey McErlane, 27, Possilpark, Glasgow Kenneth Murray, 45, Paisley Timothy Smith, 31, Johnstone Ann Trench, 34, Colston, Glasgow

The Crown Office could either decide to prosecute the company or its director or, if there was no evidence of wrong-doing, call a fatal accident inquiry.

Professor Andrew Watterson, of Stirling University, told Face the Facts that a full public inquiry should be held.

He said he did not believe that the blast was a freak accident and claimed that background factors could help provide an explanation.

And he added: "There are serious concerns about why the HSE didn't do more to address some of the many problems that existed in that plant.

"Workers weren't well protected and conditions of work weren't safe.

Building warrants

"A proper public inquiry is the only way to determine why more wasn't done in the period leading up to the incident itself."

Dr Stirling Howieson, from Strathclyde University's School of Architecture, said the factory appeared to have been modified without any building warrants.

He was also concerned about the number of temporary supports in use in the basement of the four-storey building in the city's Maryhill area.

The attitude by management towards the workforce was very much reminiscent of a Victorian workplace Professor Phil Taylor Stirling University

"Here is a building that is not necessarily being held together very well and is under a lot of applied loads that the structure was simply not designed to take," he told the programme.

Professor Phil Taylor, of Stirling University, said statements from workers had suggested "a catalogue of extremely bad health and safety practices".

"One thing that's become absolutely clear is that the attitude by management towards the workforce was very much reminiscent of a Victorian workplace," he said.

"Workers are essentially told what to do, there is no feedback from the workforce, there's no consultation, there's no involvement in decision making, it's very much the master and servant relationship."

He said it was a "great irony" that the plant made health and safety guards for equipment, yet they did not feature on many of the factory's own machines.

Investigators searched the blast site for evidence

Joe Doyle, whose 24-year-old daughter Annette was the youngest employee to lose her life, said the lack of information made it impossible to accept what had happened.

"We can't bring Annette back but if it saves somebody else's life then we will have done something that Annette would want done," he said.

A statement on behalf of ICL Plastics and Stockline Plastics said: "The company rejects wholly the inferences and speculative comments made by former employees of the company whose views are not shared by the majority of our employees.

"Academic comment is grossly misleading, surprisingly based on conclusions without reliable evidence. "Many seriously injured employees and families of the bereaved will find this deeply offensive and wounding during a period when the company is unable to comment as a full investigation progresses."

A spokesman for the Crown Office said Crown Counsel had asked the area procurator fiscal to provide extra information and it would only make a decision after this information had been received.

He added: "Only once a decision has been taken on possible criminal proceedings - and it is not possible to speculate on the timescale for this decision - will it be appropriate for attention to turn to the matter of a public inquiry."