The incident, which occurred at the Willenhall Road facility at around 1.45 pm is believed to have been caused by the explosion of a number of lithium batteries stored at the premises. Around 4 tonnes of batteries are believed to have been involved in the blaze.
The facility stores portable waste batteries for sorting and onward processing.
Fire crews from West Midlands Fire Service were called to the plant to tackle the blaze at 1.46 pm, which was swiftly brought under control, the Fire Service has said. Crews revisited the scene overnight and this morning to monitor the situation.
Response
An ambulance and paramedic officer from West Midlands Ambulance Service were also on scene within seven minutes of the alarm having been raised and were backed up by an emergency doctor and the Hazardous Area Response Team.
A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: “While firefighters brought the blaze under control, ambulance staff dealt with a 26-year-old man who had suffered multiple wounds across his body, his head and face, as well as both arms and legs. He also had burns on both hands.
“Ambulance staff dressed his wounds and stabilised his condition before taking him to the Major Trauma Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham for further assessment and treatment.
“There were no other patients.”
Incident
The Health and Safety Executive said that it was not aware of the incident, but said that duty holders have up to 10 days to report incidents for investigation.
In a statement, G&P managing director Greg Clementson, said that there has been no loss of service to the business as a result of the incident.
He added: “Our first priority was the safety of our staff and to ensure no harm to the environment. I was delighted with the response of our teams and that of the Emergency Services. We are pleased that our injured colleague is recovering well. Working in deep collaboration with the local Emergency Services we have well-rehearsed procedures for dealing with these types of incidents.
“We must all remember that these are the same batteries (lithium batteries) that people are relying upon every day to power mobile phones, computers and cars and the risk of combustion in certain circumstances is well known and documented. This risk is magnified when you are dealing with waste products which in some cases may have been damaged. Working with the battery manufacturers, original equipment suppliers and waste collection schemes, G&P Batteries has developed robust systems and criteria to manage risks associated with damaged and defective batteries, to ensure the safety of our staff and the local environment.
“Safety at our site is our main priority and we are thankful that the systems and processes that we have in place to protect staff and equipment prevented what could have been a more significant incident. We are grateful to the crews that attended from West Midland Fire Service and pleased that the incident commander praised both the company’s and staff’s reactions to the incident and efforts to minimise impact.”
The Darlaston facility has suffered a number of fires in the past, with two blazes having broken out in early 2014 (see letsrecycle.com story).
A serious fire hit also the site in March 2008, which caused significant damage to the Darlaston facility with over 90% of its buildings destroyed by the blaze (see letsrecycle.com story).
UPDATED: 24/05/2017 at 16.10 to include statement from G&P Batteries.
Subscribe for free