More charges for dodgy stockpiling
An industrial chemicals firm has been accused of new stockpiling offences.
WorkSafe Victoria has charged Bradbury Industrial Services Pty Ltd (BIS) with an additional 21 alleged breaches of the Dangerous Goods Act relating to chemical stockpiles at three Craigieburn warehouses.
The company, which is now in liquidation, has been accused of committing seven offences under sections 31(1) and 45 of the Act for each warehouse.
The charges are in addition to seven charges filed against BIS in January for alleged offences at a Campbellfield site.
Having exceeded the regulated fire protection quantity of dangerous goods, it is now alleged that the company failed to request the advice of the relevant emergency services in relation to a fire protection system and failed to have a written fire protection plan.
It is also alleged the company failed, at each site, to properly display HAZCHEM placarding and failed to keep a manifest of its dangerous goods.
It comes after BIS allegedly failed to take precautions to prevent a potential fire or explosion at the warehouse, which contained more than 2 million litres of chemical waste.
BIS ran five warehouses in Campbellfield and Craigieburn, each packed with drums and plastic containers filled with chemical waste.
Bradbury's headquarters facility in Campbellfield burned down after an industrial accident in April 2019. The blaze took over 175 firefighters to subdue, sending plumes of toxic black smoke over neighbouring suburbs.
It was revealed in January that Bradbury Industrial Services mislabelled the waste during an EPA-ordered clean-up operation in a bid to dump it illicitly for a second time.
Reports say BIS concealed up to 2 million litres of waste chemicals in shipments labelled as industrial fuel, and sent it for storage at legitimate, licensed facilities, or international export.
The mislabelling occurred at a time that WorkSafe authorities were investigating the company.
The regulator did not independently verify the contents of containers before they were shipped by Bradbury Industrial Services with official approval to other facilities.