§ Sir Bernard Braineasked the Secretary of State for Employment whether the Health and Safety Executive was consulted by the Shell Oil Company throughout tests at Maplin, Essex, on the behaviour of liquefied gas clouds when ignited; whether the executive is making an independent assessment of the lessons learnt; and whether those responsible for making the tests have had any discussion about them with the chief fire officer for Essex in the last six months.
§ Mr. WaddingtonThe Health and Safety Executive was consulted by Shell UK Ltd., throughout the trials at Maplin Sands, Essex, on the behaviour of liquefied gas clouds when ignited. The executive is making an independent assessment of the lessons from the trials, and a preliminary meeting was held on 31 March to discuss the results so far available with representatives of Shell. It is likely that the full results will not be known for some432W considerable time. I understand that there have been no discussions on the trials in the last six months between Shell and the chief fire officer for Essex.