Two badly injured in incident at Sterecycle autoclave site

Two people are said to be “badly injured” following an incident at autoclave specialist Sterecycle's waste treatment facility in Rotherham earlier today (January 11).

Sterecycle secured £10 million in funding in February 2010 in order to double the capacity of the Rotherham facility from 100,000 tonnes-a-year to 200,000 tonnes. The investment is intended as part of a three-year, £200 million programme of development (see letsrecycle.com story).

A statement released by South Yorkshire Police said: “We had a call come in about 2.40pm of a possible explosion at Sterecycle recycling business on Sheffield Road in Rotherham. It appears that a pressure valve has exploded and two people are described as ‘badly injured'.”

“There are no other reports of injuries at this time. Police, fire and ambulance crews have attended the scene and we know that the air ambulance has attended as well. We are looking at putting together a further statement with more detail later.”

“Regret”

A statement released by Sterecycle said there was a “sudden loss of pressure as a result of the failure of one of the pressure vessels used in the waste treatment process”.

The company said there was some damage to the side of the building housing the pressure vessels and that the adjoining road, Sheffield Road, has been closed temporarily.

Sterecycle confirmed that two of the site operators had been “seriously injured” but said it had initiated its emergency procedures immediately and medical attention was provided as “quickly as possible”. The two injured employees have been transferred to hospital.

Operations at the plant have been suspended and will remain so until a full investigation into the cause of the incident has been carried out.

Tom Shields, chief executive of Sterecycle, said “We clearly regret this incident and have advised the Health and Safety Executive. Our immediate priority is for the welfare of our employees who have been injured. Thereafter we will urgently investigate the causes of the incident and ensure that all necessary actions are taken.”

The incident comes one month after Sterecycle identified a potential gap in the market for alternative technologies – such as autoclaves – following the withdrawal of government PFI funding from seven local authority projects (see letsrecycle.com story).