The owner of a pallet manufacturing company ignored advice from the HSE to stop uncontrolled fires being lit at his warehouse, which was located between two gas storage sites.
In December 2007, the HSE received a complaint about pallets being set on fire inside Brampton Pallets’ premises at the Willowholme Industrial Estate in Carlisle. An HSE inspector visited the site on the 10th of that month and issued a Prohibition Notice to the company’s owner, George Ward. This required him to stop uncontrolled fires being lit in open-top drums, to eliminate the risk of embers spreading into either of the bordering yards, which were both liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) storage sites.
In April 2009, the HSE received another complaint that Ward was once again burning wooden pallets at his site without any precautions to control the fire. The HSE and Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service held a meeting with Ward and gave advice on how he could safely burn wood at the site. Ward then signed a letter to confirm he would act on the advice.
The HSE was contacted again in March 2011 by a company on the industrial estate, which informed inspectors there was an uncontrolled fire in a metal container on Brampton Pallets’ premises. An inspector visited the site immediately, located the fire and ordered Brampton Pallets to extinguish the flames.
HSE inspector Steven Boyd told SHP that following its third visit the Executive had little choice but to prosecute Ward, as he had disregarded the previous advice and warnings. He said: “Mr Ward was given several chances to comply with the law but after repeatedly ignoring our advice, a prosecution was inevitable.”
Inspector Boyd went on to explain that the danger could have been averted if Ward had installed a purpose-built proprietary incinerator, which would have stopped sparks from escaping.
“By allowing unsuitably controlled fires to be burnt at Brampton Pallets, he risked a spark from the fires causing a serious fire or explosion at the gas storage sites next to his business”, said the inspector. “If this had happened, then it had the potential to cause multiple deaths, or serious injuries.”
Ward appeared at Carlisle Magistrates’ Court on 28 March and pleaded guilty to breaching s2(1) of the HSWA 1974. He was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £3687 in costs.
In mitigation, he said an employee who had not been properly trained lit the fire witnessed by the HSE inspector in 2011. He said this was an oversight and the company had made efforts to comply with the previous advice it had received. He has subsequently purchased a proprietary incinerator.
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