Essex company in court after massive chemical spill

An industrial estate was evacuated and access roads closed as a result of the incident at Industrial Chemicals Limited (ICL) in Grays on 11 July 2013 after four of its chemical storage tanks failed.

The incident occurred when a glass reinforced plastic (GRP) tank catastrophically failed, releasing its contents of 66 tonnes of aluminium chloride. This caused chemical spills from a further three tanks that were damaged by following the first spillage, releasing aluminium chloride and hydrochloric acid.

At Basildon Crown Court, Industrial Chemicals Limited, of Hogg Lane, Grays, were fined £50,000 and ordered to pay £14,231 in costs after pleading guilty to a single breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

The full HSE article can be found here http://press.hse.gov.uk/2014/essex-company-in-court-after-massive-chemical-spill/

Our Personal Injury team comments “This was a major chemical spill caused by a failure to operate a satisfactory system of health and safety. Given the nature of this accident, it was extremely fortunate that this did not lead to serious injury to employees or the public”.