HSE cracks down in Hazchem blitz
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• The Health and Safety Executive has sent written warnings to more than 100 firms and plans "a number of prosecutions" following a blitz on chemical transport.
But a month-long series of checks in Cheshire and Merseyside found only one truck in three to be in breach of health and safety regulations. In all, 650 vehicles were stopped.
On Merseyside, half the vehicles stopped initially were breaking the regulations, but by the end of the checks only one in four could be faulted.
Bernard Robinson, principal inspector of HSE's Cheshire chemicals group, says: "The main areas of concern were inadequate labelling of vehicles, poor or non-existent training of drivers, and failure to carry suitable fire extinguishers.
"Too many vehicles failed to display orange rectangular warning plates.
"It is amazing that so many hauliers and drivers have so little regard for their own safety and the safety of others that they cannot ensure simple and relatively inexpensive fire fighting equipment is carried."