Date: December 3, 2020
Location: Avonmouth, Bristol (UK)
Address: BS11 0YS
Type: Dust Explosion
Fuel: Dried Sludge
Industry: Wastewater Treatment
Equipment: Silo
Company: Wessex Water Services Ltd.
Database Incidents: None Recorded
Loss: Four Killed, One Injured
Capital Cost: Unknown
Status: Open
Confirmation: Unconfirmed
Company Description:
According to its website, Wessex Water Services Ltd. is a regional water and sewerage business serving 2.8 million customers across the south west of England including Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, most of Wiltshire and parts of Gloucestershire and Hampshire. At its wastewater treatment plant in Avonmouth, biosolids are treated and turned into organic soil conditioner.
Incident Description:
On December 3, 2020, ABC News reported an explosion at a wastewater plant in Avonmouth, Bristol, in the UK.
Three Wessex Water employees and one contractor were killed when a silo that held treated biosolids exploded. A fifth person was injured but their injuries were not reported as life-threatening.
The Avon Fire and Rescue Service was called to the scene at 11:22 a.m. Six fire engines and rescue dogs soon arrived.
According to a police services representative, the explosion occurred in a silo holding organic matter from sewage before it “is recycled to land as an organic soil conditioner.”
One witness said he had heard a “boom and echo” and at first thought a car accident had occurred.
On December 4, the Guardian confirmed that a 16-year-old apprentice was among four people killed in an explosion at a wastewater treatment plant in Bristol. It added that a crowdfunding campaign would be launched to support the families of those who were killed.
