Exclusive:Grangemouth safety concern alert due to lack of emergency response staff

Labour MP Brian Leishman raised the concerns as he said the owners of the import terminal had cut the size of its emergency response teams.

Union Unite said the site was now “totally reliant” on the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

The Grangemouth refinery ceased production in April after more than 100 years in operation. Refining activity came to an end and more than 400 workers were paid off.

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Petroineos - a joint venture between Chinese state owned PetroChina and Manchester United owner Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos - decided to convert the plant into a fuels import depot.

As part of the huge number of redundancies on the site, the emergency response teams have been cut from seven per shift to four.

Alloa and Grangemouth MP Mr Leishman warned this was a safety concern because of the dangerous chemicals still being handled on the site.

He said: “Billionaires like your Jim Ratcliffe’s of this world do not care about anything other than corporate profits. The needs of workers and communities don’t feature on their radar.

“By reducing the emergency service capability on site, then he is not only throwing workers on the scrap heap, he is playing a risky game as his import terminal will still have dangerous substances coming and going from it.

“I have previously raised this on the floor of the House of Commons and I will do so again. Petroineos’s industrial vandalism continues.”

Unite Scotland regional officer Lorna Robertson said: “Unite Scotland share Mr Leishman’s concerns about the emergency response situation on the Grangemouth site, not only for the safety of our members, but for neighbouring communities.

“Concerns were raised by Unite throughout the redundancy consultation process, which has seen a reduction from seven crew per shift to four in the emergency response teams covering the chemical plant and FPS site. Decisions made by Petroineos also leaves the fuel import terminal - formerly refinery site - totally reliant on local Scottish Fire and Rescue Services.

“The tasks these highly trained teams perform include rescuing injured crew from high platforms and to do this safely and in time with a crew of four has still not been demonstrated to Unite as the required management of change (MoC) has not been completed. Despite this, emergency response crew have been let go and since then more resignations have followed, leaving the business now advertising for new ERT responders.

“Unite contacted HSE [Health and Safety Executive] and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland to raise concerns during the consultation process. Both responded that they had received assurances from the business that the MoC would include insights from independent experts and a full evaluation of the first response provision.

“The safety of our members is paramount, so we must ask how safe the site is with no MoC completed, experienced staff already let go and further resignations. These staff, our members, were highly experienced, long-serving crew on site and they, along with Unite, were kept in the dark while management made decisions on numbers without their input.”

An Ineos spokesperson at Grangemouth said: “Safety is and always will be our number one focus at the Grangemouth site. We have carefully reviewed the provision of emergency response following the refinery closure.

“We have completed a formal management of change process, including review of manning levels. We have undertaken additional specialised training and tested these changes prior to implementation.

“Throughout, we have consulted with the affected employees and their union, the outcome being a reduction in headcount, but without compulsory redundancies. We continue to provide 24 hour, seven day a week cover via our highly experienced and skilled response teams.”