Teesworks was irresponsible when the decision was made to carry out demolition before the site was decontaminated. This decision has unnecessarily endangered the safety of both humans and the rest of the natural environment.
Before carrying out operations a hospital makes sure its operating theatres are sterile, if not the hospital is negligent and patients are likely to die.
In a similar way, carrying out the already complex and dangerous demolition operations in a contaminated environment was negligent. Teesworks is one of the most contaminated sites in the UK and was one of the most dangerous sites classified on a par with Bhophal and a major oil refinery by the Health and Safety Executive.
By not decontaminating the site before other work commenced created two major risks:
Firstly, carrying out demolition in the presence of pyrophilic and explosive hazards made the work far more dangerous than it needed to be. Explosions and fires would not happen if the hazards have been removed.
Secondly, any work on the site while it has not all been decontaminated exposes workers to the potential of chemical exposure unless extra personal protective equipment is used and exposes the environment to the potential for accidental release of contaminated material either into air or water. Exposure and release would not happen if the chemicals of concerns had been removed from site.
Instead demolition has been carried out on a very dangerous site.
In August 2019 the Environment Agency gave advice about the development of the Teesworks site and stated that “These decontamination operations should be completed prior to any demolition or longer term restoration of the site.” Teesworks has announced that all the demolition is now finished, but the decontamination operations have not been completed and in many areas of the site decontamination has yet to start.