Risk of explosion from gas release put lives at risk

Date:

5 January 2012

A gas company has been fined for putting its employees at risk after a large cloud of flammable gas was released at its Caernarfon depot.

Caernarfon Magistrates' Court heard that on 15 September 2009 workers at Avanti Gas Ltd (formerly Shell Gas Ltd) were in the process of emptying eight vessels of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) prior to disposal.

The method in place at the site was to turn vessels upside down on rollers and then use a compressor to pump off the remaining LPG into a slops tank.

Having emptied a larger vessel, they began turning a smaller, wider LPG vessel upside down. While doing so, the vessel slipped between the rollers, hitting and snapping off the pressure relief valve, so 100 litres of LPG were released. The LPG rapidly evaporated to form a large, flammable gas cloud.

Luckily, despite the presence of ignition sources, the gas cloud did not ignite. Had it done so, the resulting flash fire could have resulted in serious injuries to the four people present.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the company had failed to assess the task adequately, implement a safe system of work, or follow the recommended methods in the industries codes of practice for this process.

Avanti Gas Ltd (formerly Shell Gas Ltd), of Chesterfield, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £17,000 and ordered to pay costs of £3,054.45.

Mark Burton, HM Inspector of Health and Safety, said:

"HSE should have been made aware of the incident under COMAH - the major accident reporting scheme - because it filled a number of the criteria. This was a designated COMAH site, and this was an uncontrolled incident with the potential for serious danger to people.

"While site personnel had completed the appropriate paperwork and risk assessment processes for the larger vessels, they had not adequately assessed the operation for the smaller vessels. If they had, they would have realised that rollers were not suitable to turn it over."

Notes to editors

1. The Health and Safety Executive is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice; promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice; and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk
2. Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states that "it shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees".
3. The Environment Agency (EA) in England and Wales, Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) in Scotland, and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) are jointly responsible (as the Competent Authority) for regulating major hazardous industrial sites in the UK under the Control of Major Accident Hazard Regulations 1999 (COMAH). COMAH requires operators of major hazard sites subject to the Regulations to take all measures necessary to prevent major accidents and limit their consequences to persons and the environment. Operators of top tier COMAH sites are also required to submit written safety reports to the Competent Authority; and to prepare emergency plans to deal with the consequences of a major accident. Operators and others (including contractors, designers and suppliers) also have relevant duties under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and under other environmental legislation to protect land, air and water, including the Water Resources Act 1991.

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