An investigation has begun at British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant after an incident occurred at the site resulted in two men receiving hospital treatment.
It is not known what happened to the men following the incident, or if they have returned to work.
British Steel is yet to comment on the incident, which happened on August 24, beyond confirming that emergency services were called to the site. It was also confirmed an investigation had begun.
The incident occurred at the basic oxygen steel-making plant at the works.
A spokesman for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said it was aware of the incident and is making enquiries into the circumstances surrounding it.
The news comes as the former owners of the works, Tata Steel, were fined £930,000 for a chemical leak in 2011.
Hull Crown Court heard that on 17 June 2011, a large quantity of Benzole was released at an open site glass in Tata Steel’s Scunthorpe Steel Works.
The release resulted in a large flammable vapour cloud that exposed five workers to the risk of serious injury of death had the cloud ignited.
Two of the workers were exposed to the chemical and suffered coughing and breathing difficulties. They were sent to hospital and discharged the next day.
The site in Scunthorpe is a top-tier Control of Major Accidents Hazards (COMAH) site due to the large amounts of highly flammable and toxic chemicals stored on the site.
