Albright and Wilson were a company that revelled in its manufacture of dangerous chemicals that they attempted to turn into “everyday” household items used by Joe Public. Some early examples of this I have looked at HERE. This laughable exercise unfortunately didn’t apply to these gas lighters and their hazardous waste sites, like Rattlechain lagoon.
Thus an example here was given in the 15th January 1992 Sandwell Evening Mail with the very ominous, and also highly prophetic “Chemical Plant Danger Alert.”
A public relations exercise involved them distributing an information pack within the then 2km safety zone, when chlorine and phosphorus were still being delivered by rail into the works. I have looked in the previous post as to why this was a very bad idea!
“The safety card warned of the possible hazards from the accidental release of toxic chlorine, phosphine or phosphorus, which can cause breathing difficulties. “
In this article, we see that the incompetent liar Peter Bloore had obviously got the chop as works manager after a series of incidents involving the very thing that his successor appears oblivious to in this piece.
Ian Woodhouse states “It is simply a question of fulfilling our obligations to our neighbours , ensuring that they are fully informed about the action they should take in the extremely unlikely event of a major emergency at our plant”
I would have to state that the man appears to be on a different planet here, as the “extremely unlikely event” he talks of had happened repeatedly- and here is a little reminder through the following evidential blog posts of past incidents at Trinity Street, and their decennium horribilis, some involving the very chemicals mentioned in this story.
Albright’s toxic archives #14 -Chlorine gassed | What Lies Beneath Rattlechain Lagoon?
Albright’s toxic archives #26 Phosphine under pressure | What Lies Beneath Rattlechain Lagoon?
Albright’s toxic archives #27- Bloore’s bad gas | What Lies Beneath Rattlechain Lagoon?
Albright’s toxic archives #28 A cloud over Oldbury #1 | What Lies Beneath Rattlechain Lagoon?
Albright’s toxic archives #29 A cloud over Oldbury #2 | What Lies Beneath Rattlechain Lagoon?
I rest my case, except to state that other incidents at Portishead, Avonmouth, and fatally abroad at their Charleston plant in the US, show this company for what they really were in the 1990’s and towards demise.
The timing of this warning from Ian Woodhouse was quite unbelievable , as the very next day, there would indeed be an incident involving the release of toxic phosphorus, which I will examine in the next post. He must have been having a laugh when he said “extremely unlikely event”.
Nice one Woody.
Perhaps this tune hooked up to the air raid siren speakers would have been a better reflection of their “general alarm” warning system to their residential neighbours. 😆