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Fawley, Hampshire · Southampton Magistrates' Court
A steel tower at Fawley Refinery partially collapsed, rupturing pipework and releasing around 2,400kg of liquefied petroleum gas over 33 hours, with roughly 400kg escaping within the first 30 minutes. The tower had long-standing corrosion identified as early as 2010, which the company failed to correct.
Injuries: No injuries reported, though workers faced risk of serious injury from falling debris and potential burns.
Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974
“This incident could have been far worse, and today's sentence reflects the seriousness of the breaches our investigation uncovered.”
Corrosion identified on process plant years earlier must be acted on before it leads to structural failure and an uncontrolled release.
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