Haulage firm fined over "massive" fire risk
January 13th 14:04 Health and Safety
The benefits of effective facilities management on health and safety compliance has been highlighted by a fire risk.
A Leicester-based haulage firm has been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for not properly managing the risks involved with the storage of aerosols.
HSE said the way in which the company stored large amounts of the flammable products was a "massive fire risk".
James Wright, an inspector for the HSE, said: "The arrangements this company had in place for the storage of aerosol products fell well below what HSE would expect to find.
"On this occasion, with the amount of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) being stored on site, there was a real risk of a major fire, which would have posed a threat to employees on site and those in the surrounding area."
AM Widdowson & Son was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £4,900 in court costs after pleading guilty to breaching sections of the Health and Safety at Work Act and the Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations.
Effective facilities management could have helped avoid the situation as Mr Wright explained that the company had also failed to notify the HSE that it was operating a site which came under COMAH regulations.
