A SERIES of failings led to explosions and a huge blaze at a Teesside chemical site, a court heard.

Vertellus Specialities UK (VSUK) Ltd has been ordered to pay more than £172,000 after admitting not taking necessary measures to avoid a major incident in 2014.

At around 3am on May 14 that year, a huge fire broke out at the company’s Seal Sands site, sparking explosions that could be seen for miles around.

Emergency services were on site for hours, with residents living nearby ordered to close their doors and windows until the fire – which could not be treated with water – burned itself out.

Surrounding roads were closed for several hours and the local authority had to implement its emergency plan in response to the blaze, which carried “a significant risk to life”.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive resulted in prosecution, with Teesside Crown Court hearing the fire could have been avoided had VSUK carried out adequate risk assessments and followed strict safety guidelines.

The blaze was sparked through the overheating of ovens used to heat sealed drums containing hazardous chemical Vitride.

Rosalind Scott-Bell, prosecuting for the Health and Safety Executive, said VSUK had wrongly classified the operation as low risk, failed to identify several “obvious risks”, and missed opportunities to prevent the fire.

Highlighting numerous areas of concern, she claimed the drums were not designed to be used in heating operations and said the ovens – known as hot boxes – had not been adequately maintained, having been decommissioned for several years prior to being brought back into use for the operation.

Ms Scott-Bell said temperature alarms and checks were not implemented or responded to correctly, adding: “The site’s senior management were informed by email that the hot box had been overheating on each occasion but they did not intervene to stop the operation.

“The incident was caused by VSUK’s failure to take all measures necessary to prevent major accidents.”

Dominic Kay QC, mitigating, apologised on behalf of the company and said significant tests and assessments had been carried out prior to the operation but admitted efforts had not gone far enough to ensure its safety. He said the incident was regretted “enormously”.

Judge Harold Crowson said he was satisfied the company had a good safety record previously but agreed not enough had been done to prevent the incident. He ordered VSUK to pay £172,663.72 in fines and costs.