Date | 12 April 2002 |
---|---|
Time | 3.00 pm BST (UTC+01:00) |
Location | Distillex Ltd. East Percy Street North Shields Tyne and Wear NE30 1DT England |
Coordinates | 55°00′43″N1°26′11″W / 55.011991°N 1.436512°W |
Cause | Ignition of flammable solvents by spark from cutting equipment. |
Inquiries | Health and Safety Executive Case No. 10506590 |
Charges | 2 breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 |
Verdict | Guilty on both charges; fined a total of £39,000 and ordered to pay costs of £7,975 |
The Distellex factory fire started at the Distillex chemical plant in North Shields, England on 12 April 2002. [1] Distillex Ltd. operated a chemical recovery service, annually recycling 10,000 tonnes (11,023 tons) of oxygenated, hydrocarbon, and halogenated solvents and 1,000 tonnes (1,102 tons) of other chemical wastes produced by manufacturing industries and laboratories. [2] [3] The plant was situated in the middle of a largely residential area.
The fire was caused by sparks from an angle grinder igniting solvent-contaminated rags in a waste skip. This spread rapidly to a storage area holding 400,000 litres of chemicals. The fire was compounded by chemicals mixing with melting plastic from intermediate bulk containers. [4] [5]
Northumbria Police immediately declared a Major Incident, and set up a half-mile exclusion zone around the factory, causing the evacuation of around 500 residents. More than 150 police officers were deployed to patrol the exclusion zone while 300 fire fighters tackled the fire. [6] [7] [8] As the fire spread through the factory there were a number of explosions which launched containers and drums into the air and a thick plume of toxic smoke, visible more than 20 miles away, was produced. [6]
Both the Tyne and Wear Metro light rail system, between Tynemouth and North Shields, and the Tyne road tunnel beneath the River Tyne were closed down while the fire was active. [6] A 5-mile (8 km) no-fly zone was also placed over nearby Newcastle International Airport. [7] It took 25 fire appliances 5 hours to bring the fire under control, and damping down continued through the following day. [9]
On 15 April 2002, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) began an investigation of the fire. On the same date Chris Nicholls, operations director at Distillex, told BBC Radio Newcastle that the solvents recycling operation would not continue and admitted: "Seeing the aftermath of this incident it would seem it is an inappropriate location for such an operation." [10]
Following the investigation the HSE prosecuted Distillex for 2 breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 for failing to ensure the safety of the public and its own employees. Although Distillex pleaded guilty, magistrates at North Tyneside magistrates court instead referred the case to a crown court judge after deciding the maximum £40,000 fine they could impose was insufficient. [11] In November 2002, at Newcastle Crown Court, Judge Peter Bullock fined the company a total £39,000. [12] Alan Campbell, the MP for Tynemouth, said that the judge had been "far too lenient". He added: "I was there on the day of the fire and saw the damage and disruption it caused to North Tyneside. It was a huge risk to public safety. This is another example of the law being clear, penalties being available and courts failing to use the powers available to them." [13]
On 30 January 2002, the factory was the source of a release of harmful chemical vapour after a tank containing methyl chloride overheated. The incident was reported at 6.40 am GMT and required 50 firefighters to bring it under control. A 1-mile cordon was set up by police around the factory and residents warned to stay indoors with all doors and windows closed. The Tyne and Wear Metro station at Tynemouth and nearby schools were closed. [14]
Tyne and Wear is a ceremonial county in North East England. It borders Northumberland to the north and County Durham to the south, and the largest settlement is the city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
South Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, North East England.
North Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It forms part of the greater Tyneside conurbation. North Tyneside Council is headquartered at Cobalt Park, Wallsend.
The Tyne and Wear Metro is an overground and underground light rail rapid transit system serving Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, and the City of Sunderland. The network opened in stages from August 1980 and now serves a total of 60 stations, with two lines covering 77.5 km (48.2 mi) of track. The Metro can be accessed from a mixture of underground and above-ground stations. It has been described as the "first modern light rail system in the United Kingdom". The system is currently owned and operated by the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive, thus is fully under public ownership and operation.
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The Tyneside Electrics were the suburban railways on Tyneside that the North Eastern Railway and the London and North Eastern Railway electrified using the third rail system. The North Tyneside Loop was electrified from 1904 onwards and formed one of the earliest suburban electric networks; the South Tyneside line to South Shields via Pelaw was electrified in March 1938. British Railways converted these lines to diesel operation in the 1960s: the line to South Shields in January 1963 and the North Tyneside lines in June 1967 when the electrical supply infrastructure and the rolling stock had become life expired. In addition, the system was losing passengers and suffering from costly vandalism. Since the late 1970s, much of the system has been converted to form the Tyne and Wear Metro.
North Shields is a Tyne and Wear Metro station, serving the coastal town of North Shields, North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It joined the network on 14 November 1982, following the opening of the fourth phase of the network, between Tynemouth and St James via Wallsend.
Tynemouth is a Tyne and Wear Metro station, serving the coastal town of Tynemouth, North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It joined the network as a terminus station on 11 August 1980, following the opening of the first phase of the network, between Haymarket and Tynemouth via Four Lane Ends.
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