The owner of an oil recycling company, where 24-year-old Jamey Bowring was killed in a tank explosion, has been sentenced to just over four months of home detention.

Bowring died on September 15, 2015, when he was welding and grinding a 96,000 litre capacity tank which was close to empty.

The tank exploded throwing Bowring 130 metres into a nearby car yard and killing him.

It was the owner, Ronald Salter, of Salters Cartage Limited's "disregard for safety (that) led directly to the death of a young man with his future in front of him," says WorkSafe's chief inspector investigations Keith Stewart.

Salter was sentenced to home detention and his company was fined just over $258,000 in Manukau District Court on Thursday.

Salter was personally fined $25,000 and along with his company will jointly pay reparations totalling $128,000.

The contractor who employed Bowring, Race Works Limited, was convicted and discharged without penalty.

"The violations of health and safety requirements in this case were numerous and serious," Stewart said.

"It is to avoid such a tragedy that we have health and safety legislation and rules for dealing with hot work and flammable vapours.

"I hope that every participant in this industry takes time today to ensure they're absolutely on top of their health and safety responsibilities and we never have to see such a tragedy again."