Case Study – A40 Closed for 24 Hours in Gloucestershire

September 2006

When Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service declared ‘Major Incident’ recently during a chemical blaze and spill that shut the A40 for 24hrs, teams from Braemar Howells Ltd. were called in to help clean up the spill. The Teams were able to arrive on scene well within the Responsible Care guideline time for response and after an initial assessment of the situation, work was started on the clean up phase of the operation whilst the fire was still burning inside the building.

Chemical containers damaged in the blaze had leaked and run both into the below-ground drainage systems and on the surface, accumulating in 2 large pools (One on site and the second nearby on the industrial area.) A large area of road between the lagoons was also very heavily contaminated.

Braemar Howells staff were on hand to trace drainage systems and to block a previously unidentified outfall from to the nearby River Colne. We also pumped a cocktail of mixed chemicals (mostly acid at pH1) that had been contained in the pools by Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue.

During the first night and following day of the operation Braemar Howells set up two pumping operations and pumped around 30 tonnes of chemical to temporary storage.

Another very urgent task for Braemar Howells Ltd. during the second day of the incident was decontaminating the road in the industrial area to allow access to the units by neighbouring businesses that were unable to reach their premises.

Braemar Howells Ltd would like to take this opportunity of thanking other contractors involved and especially Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service. We very much valued their help and co-operation during the incident and look forward to working with them again in the future!

24 Hour Response Line 08700 73 77 66 73