Fire Risk

A Leicester haulage firm has been fined £5,000 for the illegal storage of large quantities of liquid petroleum gas (LPG).

A.M Widdowson & Son Ltd, of Mill Lane Industrial Estate, posed a major fire risk after storing huge amounts of LPG.

At Coalville Magistrates' Court, it admitted breaching Control of Major Accident Hazard laws and health and safety laws.

The court heard that the firm had failed to tell the authorities about the LPG and had not completed a risk assessment. It also failed to have many good practices recognised by the industry.

The firm was fined £5,000 and must pay costs of £4,900.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the firm had not properly managed the risks associated with storing large amounts of aerosol products at their Hilltop Industrial Estate site in Leicestershire.

HSE inspector, James Wright, 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 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.
"The company also failed to notify the HSE that they were operating a site which came under the COMAH Regulations."

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David Urpeth from law firm Irwin Mitchell said: “I welcome the fine imposed following these serious health and safety breaches.

Had there been an accident at work leading to a fire explosion, this would have posed a serious risk to workers and local residents.

Those storing LPG need to ensure that they do so in a manner which does not expose workers or residents to risk of injury should there be a work accident.”