Explosion at UK oilseed plant injures three

AN explosion at an oilseed processing plant in the UK has injured three people.

The explosion occurred at an oilseed processing plant owned by ADM in Erith, south-east of London on 19 June. ADM has confirmed that the explosion occurred in the extraction area of the facility’s oilseed crushing plant. Three contractors who were working outside in an adjacent silo suffered injuries and were taken to hospital. The BBC has quoted the police confirming that the three people had “suffered injuries consistent with burns”.

ADM said in an emailed statement: “The safety and health of all our colleagues and the community where we operate is our top priority, the fire brigade worked on-site and extinguished the fire, the plant was fully evacuated and shut down. At this point, we do not know the cause of the explosion, but there is an ongoing investigation to determine its cause.”

The HSE has started enquiries into how the workers were injured, the BBC reports. The incident also led to evacuations at neighbouring businesses, including Tesco and Ocado warehouses.

The ADM facility crushes around 1m t/y of rapeseed. The resulting crude oil is refined into around 385,000 t of oil for use in food ingredients and biofuels sold across Europe. The meal from the crushing operations is sold for livestock feed.