Chemical company fined after major fire

A company in Doncaster has been fined over £20,00 after a major fire broke out on its premises in 2010.

The incident happened on 26th June, 2010 at Solvents with Safety Ltd on the Plumtree Farm Industrial Estate in Harworth. The building was completely destroyed in the fire.

The Health and Safety Executive found that staff had been decanting a highly flammable liquid from a large container, into a smaller one. This is known as ‘Splash Filling’ and it is known to be a serious fire risk as static electricity is generated, which in certain circumstances can cause the liquid and vapours to ignite.

The Health and Safety Executive told Doncaster Magistrates Court that it had warned Solvents with Safety twice about decanting chemicals in this way in May 2006 and later in December 2007.

The company was fined £20,000 under Reg 6(1) of the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002 and also had to pay almost £7,000 in costs.

HSE inspector Jayne Towey said: “The method they used was fraught with risk to say the least, and the generation of static charge could have been prevented by the provision of a longer filling pipe to avoid splash filling. This was a reasonably practicable measure to take, and the company was well aware of the dangers on the back of earlier HSE advice.”