Less bang, more buck
August 1st 2007 Specialist 3PL, CERT FMCG Logistics, claims its top tier COMAH site in Rotherham is one of the safest operations for storage and distribution of aerosols thanks to Pyroban and
Crown Lift Trucks
CERT's Rotherham site manages
various types of operations for
major brands including The Body
Shop, Reckitt Benckiser and Coty (one of
the world's largest fragrance companies
whose brands include Rimmel London and
Adidas).
CERT sought to grow its facility to
provide up to 6,000 pallet positions for
aerosols such as antiperspirant deodorants
and household cleaning products
containing a small amount of liquefied
petroleum gas (LPG) propellant. A key
concern was the total amount of
flammable gas the firm could be handling.
"6,000 pallets of aerosols equates to a lot
of pressurised flammable gas under one
roof," says operations director, John
Hamilton. "We estimated that at any one
time we wouldn't have any less than 300
tonnes of LPG onsite."
The HSE confirmed that if CERT were
looking to handle this number of aerosols
they would fall into the Top Tier COMAH
(Control of Major Accidents and Hazards)
Regulations. The company also had to
comply with the Dangerous Substances and
Explosive Atmospheres Regulations
(DSEAR) which concerns the management
of the operation, training and classification
of zoned areas.
To ensure COMAH and DSEAR
compliance, CERT worked with the
Environment Agency, the HSE, its insurance
company, local police, fire and ambulance
services and suppliers to ensure effective
explosion risk management.
The company invested £750K in the
upgrade including 12.5m high projectile
fencing around 6,000 pallet positions and
the fitting of a penstock valve to contain
fire water. The storage areas were classified
Zone 2 under the DSEAR regulations with
all equipment operating in the areas having
to comply with the ATEX 94/9/EC Directive.
Crown Lift Trucks has supplied CERT for
the last eight years and the site upgrade
coincided with the need for a replacement
fork lift truck fleet.
Following a full audit, Crown
implemented a replacement fleet
programme consisting of TSP Man up VNA
machines, WP2330S Powered Pallet trucks,
ESR4500 Reach and SC3200
counterbalance trucks. Crown also brought
in Pyroban at the start of the project to
advise on DSEAR and ATEX.
Pyroban converted the machines at its
West Sussex factory so that they were safe
for operation within the Zone 2 hazardous
storage areas. Pyroban's system 5000E gas
protection was used, which provides early
warning of a problem and automatically
shuts equipment down if a hazard is
detected.
Crown also helped to improve
housekeeping and supports the equipment
onsite with fully Pyroban trained engineers
and EX-ASA annual safety audits in line
with the thorough examination of fork lift
trucks.
"The Top-tier COMAH registration means
we are one of the safest 3PLs serving the
health & beauty and other FMCG sectors,"
says Hamilton.
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