Calor’s empty safety pledges (From Echo)

Calor’s empty safety pledges

11:09am Thursday 26th August 2010 in

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As a resident of Canvey, and having read the article on the Calor Gas terminal, I am afraid to say I do not find its staff assurances very reassuring.

Having somebody on site for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, backed up by chain link fences and a guard dog called Jack, does not seem adequate security measures against a terrorist attack on a storage site containing 35,000 tonnes of liquid petroleum gas.

Nor does it sound reassuring that Calor’s maintenance regimes seem to depict the stretched workload of holding together an ageing site.

Clearly there is a concern when the gas detection system failed to operate, allowing gas to escape for a considerable time before being discovered by a staff member reporting for work.

It is discreditable that the management of this major hazardous site did not know the basic requirements laid out by its own regulatory authority.

Perhaps a phone call to the Health and Safety Executive soon after the release of the gas would have saved Calor having to plead guilty to failures of safety requirements, concluding in a considerable fine.

All this is far from reassuring and as soon as this hazardous site is removed from Canvey, the safer we will all feel.

R Walker
Collindale Close
Canvey