London News

LONDON NEWS Reproduced below are items t2ken frow the London Fire Brigade Petroleum Branch Information

Unsafe lamp

Taking advantage of his employer's workshop facilities, which included an unprotected lead lamp, at licensed premises in New MaIden a man proceeded to attempt the repair of a leaking fuel pipe on his car. When doing so he pulled off the pipe and petrol fell on the lamp, the glass cracked and petrol was ignited. In the ensuing fire the luckless fellow received burns when his clothing caught alight. Although the fire was quickly extinguished, the car was severely damaged. He was cautioned for an offence under the Petroleum Spirit (Motor Vehicles, etc.) Regulations 1929.

Smoker

The occupier of a fourth floor residential flat in Tower Hamlets chose the kitchen as a place in which to clean a carburettor with petrol. He smoked whilst doing so and petrol vapour was ignited. A bucket of water was used to quell the fire but not before the decor and cupboards in the kitchen had been scorched and blackened.

Line trouble

As each finished vehicle rolls off the lines at a Dagenham car factory a small quantity of petrol is delivered into its tanks by means of one of three dispensers to which petrol is pumped through three 2 inch diameter pipes.

The run of pipework is about 750 feet long and is in a trench. About 150 feet of the trench is in the open air and covered partly by concrete and partly by removable slabs. When the pipes reach the Assembly Shop they are taken into the building and run along a shallow trench under the floor of the building. All three lines recently developed leaks- it is believed that pipe couplings were when contractors working on the site shattered one of the removable slabs. The senior inspector found petrol to a depth of about two feet in the section of trench in the open air and workmen trying to repair the damage Petrol was still leaking from pipework in the building and an explosive concentration of vapour existed in the trench under the building. The inspector stopped the repair work and before he would allow it to continue he asked for the removal of all liquid in the trench and for the use of an air mover to disperse vapour.

The bulk of the liquid tn the trench was removed by a 'tanker vehicle'. Thr resi'due, mainly water plus a layer of petrol, was treated with detergent and pumped into drains. The leaking pipes were subsequently repaired. As the company had not appointed a safety representative under the Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974 the inspector involved the union convener early in the exercise.

The dispensing arrangements outlined in the first paragraph are unsatisfactory and have caused trouble from time to time. The inspector has been telling the company this for years. At long last improvements are in hand.

Smell at tube station

Evening and weekend visits were needed when a complaint was received about the appearance of petrol vapour in a drain at the Angel underground station. Initial checks at a petrol filling station some distance downhill frOD the station indicated that delivery from one pump was delayed on starting up and the records for one tank were suspect. The tank was subjected to a static dip test and a was indicated so the.tank was condemned. The rest of the installation was then checked and the suction line fault was confirmed. Soon after the pump and tank were taken out of use the smell in the drains at the tube station gradually dispersed, aided by frequent flushing with water. There was also slight contamination of road gullies in the vicinity of the filling station.

Extensive pongs

A petrol storage tank installed in sand in 1958 developed a leak and caused problems in Edmonton. Several complaints were received from houses Some 200 yards away and from nearby