Lessons must be learned from this week's fire at the Silvertown Tunnel's Newham site to ensure similar incidents do not occur on other projects, according to a leading fire safety expert.

Six fire engines and 40 firefighters were called to the site in London at 10.23pm on Tuesday night following reports of a fire. Before the emergency services arrived, 25 people had been evacuated.

To ensure lessons are taken away from the incident, Mosen managing director Fathi Tarada told NCE that it would be helpful if the full investigation reports were made available once completed.

"Quite often they're not released to the public or specialists which is a shame because we need to learn the difficult and bitter lessons from these fires so they're not repeated," he said. "The only way we're going to get better if we understand the reasons for these fires."

BS6164, the British Standard which deals with health and safety in the tunnelling industry, is currently the best practice for the industry.

Tarada said: "Whether it's the right time to look again at 6164 I don't know, I think we need to wait and see the investigation reports and see if there are lessons to be learnt or updates required. The only way we're going to learn is by having the definitive investigation reports.

"We've got to learn exactly what's happened and draw the right conclusions and implement best practice in the projects we've got now and future projects."

The fire broke out at the site's conveyor belt system, which removes spoil from the tunnel's launch chamber - a "known fire risk", according to Tarada.

"You've got motors underneath which are driving the belt and they can overheat and that can cause a fire," he explained. "Obviously it's too early to say whether there was something specific on site that required better attention or whether the guidelines themselves need reviewing.

"What you can do with these conveyor belts is put a local fire suppressant system in the vicinity of the motor itself with water. If there is any overheating the water is discharged and cools down the whole thing so you nip it in the bud so it doesn't spread.

"I'm sure the contractor has done a risk assessment and looked at all these elements. Different risk assessments conclude different things and depending on the kind of risk assessment you undertake you may conclude that kind of system of fire suppressant is useful or not."

The fire comes after the tunnel boring machine (TBM) that will dig the tunnel was launched by the Riverlinx CJV earlier this month. Tarada said that while the safety of construction crews is the number one priority, investment in fire safety "does also help in terms of making sure your construction programme is robust and you're not put back".

He added: "Obviously the contractor has milestones to meet. I don't know how long the investigation and clear up operation will take. We'd much rather have a safe system to begin with and no fires. And if fires do break out you want to nip them in the bud as quickly as possible."

Transport for London (TfL) has launched an investigation into the cause of the fire.

A TfL spokesperson said: "All emergency procedures were followed and nobody was hurt as a result [of the incident]. Safety is our top priority and an urgent investigation with Riverlinx and its contractors is underway to fully understand the cause of the fire."

Earlier this year there was also a small fire within HS2's tunnel in the Chiltern hills.

The incident occurred on near the Chiltern Tunnel south portal site in Rickmansworth, just inside the M25, on a vehicle that transports workers into the tunnel to work on the TBM. While transporting three workers who were on their way to a night shift in the TBM, Cecilia, the car caught fire.

The workers removed themselves safely from the car and attempted to extinguish the fire, but the engine exploded about 1.6km from the TBM. The three workers followed safety procedures and sheltered within Cecilia’s safety chamber. Once the fire was extinguished and the situation under control, they were safely removed from the tunnel.

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Tagged with: Fire safety Silvertown Tunnel

I have to say that this is a pretty pointless article which only allows advertising by a ‘fire expert’ and states the obvious

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