A total of 237 prevention plans have been received by the Agency throughout the year, of which 82 – or 35% – have been accepted as robust enough.
But, it adds that overall the quality of the plans is improving and the acceptance rate has increased from its initial level of less than 10%.
The revelation comes as the Environment Agency continues to flesh out its Fire Prevention Plan guidance, which stipulates various restrictions on the storage and separation distances between piles of waste materials.
The Agency carried out a consultation with waste operators which ended in March, inviting them to submit the costs involved in implementing the requirements of the guidance. It is now a requirement for the regulator to carry out an economic impact assessment of any changes they make to published guidance, including on fire prevention.
The survey ran alongside fire trials to assess the combustible properties of previously untested waste materials.
Set up in conjunction with the Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA) and the Waste Industry Safety Forum (WISH), the tests will also feed into the revised guidance and have already yielded early results (see letsrecycle.com story).
Delay
However, due to the ‘complexities and range of variables involved’ in assessing the consultation responses, the Environment Agency has warned that publication of the guidance may now be delayed.
In a letter to the Renewable Energy Association, the Agency confirms that it is being assisted by economists from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) in assessing the feedback, which may take up to three months to complete.
Elsewhere, waste teams in Greater Manchester Merseyside and Cheshire (GMMC) are leading the way in auditing sites to assess compliance with approved fire prevention plans – with other regions in England to follow.
Checks
To ensure waste operators comply, the teams are checking for daily fire checks, staff training, transfer notes, and site plans, as well as waste treatment and acceptance procedures, prevention and emergency responses.
Karen Henson, environment officer in GMMC, said: “It is important that you are implementing what is written in the FPP to manage fire risk at your site. If circumstances or procedures have changed on site then you should ensure that your FPP is updated to reflect this and resubmitted to the Environment Agency.”
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