AVA CARIDAD Editorial Director Challenges & Solutions While most of the fillers who spoke to SPRAY for our Fillers talk to SPRAY about expansions, upgrades and facing adversity. annual feature had positive news to report, sometimes good news comes only after bad. Despite the best planning, preparing and budgeting, unforeseen events, especially those dealing with natural forces, can cause grievous damage and delays to any business. SPRAY talked to a UKbased filler whose facility faced disaster last year and managed to quickly resume business as usual. Rising from the ashes… On June 30, 2016, aerosol filler LMA Services Ltd, located on the Pocklington Industrial Estate in York, UK, experienced a warehouse fire that destroyed two buildings and caused several explosions. There was nearly a full workforce at the factory, which has 32 employees, when the blaze broke out in the late afternoon. “It was a large scale incident that was extremely challenging for all the crews involved,” a fire officer based at Pocklington Fire Station told the York Press. “There are two sheds that hold industrial chemicals that have been destroyed. The fire was contained to those two sheds and no other properties were affected.” Fraser Todd, Managing Director, LMA Services and owner of the aerosol manufacturing facility, was thankful that nobody was injured in the fire. He said the flames were caused by an unexplained ignition in a manufacturing process. “We are lucky to be where we are,” he told the York Press. “It is always a risk dealing with flammable chemicals. We have lost two warehouses and some stock. It is devastating to see it but you live in hope that you will still have substantial parts of the business remaining and it could have been a lot worse…the cost of the damage will be hundreds of thousands of pounds.” Todd had to immediately confer with the company’s insurers and representatives from an environment agency, who visited the site to investigate what impact a substantial amount of water mixing with various chemicals has had on the area. He thanked the fire service for its swift response and for preventing the fire from spreading. Staff were back at work the next morning and “business is continuing,” Todd said. Two months after the incident, Car & Accessory Trader Magazine (CAT) caught up with Todd, who reported that the company was on the mend with staff and suppliers “pulling together” to get the warehouse back up and running. “Everybody has been very flexible and positive about the situation,” Todd explained. The LMA warehouse before the fire After the fire Todd Plans for the new LMA buildings, which were in the works even before the fire (below). March 2017 Spray 13
Spray March 2017
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