Unite chief warns oil refinery 'at serious risk of a major accident'

UNITE union has warned the Government Lindsey Oil Refinery (LOR) is at “serious risk of a major accident”, due to staffing levels.

- By IVAN MORRIS POXTON

It has asked for financial retention packages to refinery workers to be “significantly improved” to avoid workers leaving.

A letter by Unite’s general secretary, Sharon Graham, to Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary, Ed Miliband, highlights the refinery is a top-tier Control of Major Accidental Hazards (COMAH) site. Ms Graham states of a major accident, “the potential for such a catastrophe must be avoided at all costs.”

An Insolvency Service spokesperson has now rejected the safety claim made, stating there is no truth in it. They also said the independent Official Receiver's top priority “remains ensuring the safety of Lindsey oil refinery and its workers”. He is working with the company’s management and the Health and Safety Executive on this, and continuing negotiations on a range of bids for the refinery.

Ms Graham’s letter, seen by Grimsby Live, dates from September 15. It likens the consequences of a major accident at the refinery to the BP Texas City refinery explosion in 2005, and the Pembroke refinery explosion in the UK in 2011.

Both incidents saw multiple fatalities, with 15 workers killed by the 2005 Texas explosion.

“The lives that could be lost, livelihoods destroyed, the environmental and infrastructure damage that could be done to the site and everything around it is frightening.