Emergency at Rye Harbour chemical firm
Rye Harbour Road was closed this week following another industrial accident at the SRM chemical refinery.
The incident happened at around 9.30am on Tuesday when a crane toppled over.
A worker at SRM suffered a broken ankle and bruising in the incident.
The road was shut for an hour while an emergency operation got underway.
It follows last year's leak of toxic materials which sparked one of the biggest emergency operations ever seen in the county, and raised fresh questions about safety procedures at the plant.
Rye firefighters arrived on the site to contain the scene.
Firefighter Andy Polley said: "We received a call that a person was trapped but when we arrived everyone was accounted for.
"A mobile crane had toppled over and there was some concern that it had damaged tanks so we remained on stand-by at the site until SRM's own team had stabilised the situation.
"The injury to the worker was not life threatening and SRM have launched an investigation into the incident."
SRM Operations Director Tony Walmsley said: "A mobile crane toppled over during a lifting operation.
"The crane came to rest on top of a number of storage tanks. An SRM employee was injured in the accident and was treated at the Hastings Conquest hospital for a broken ankle, muscular bruising to their back and a head wound requiring eight stitches. No other persons were injured.
"No loss of containment resulted from the incident but as a precaution SRM called in the Emergency Services and evacuated all non-essential personnel.
"As there had been no loss of containment it wasn't deemed necessary to enforce an exclusion zone around the affected area.
"Site operations have largely returned to normal with some minor restrictions due to the damage incurred.
"Arrangements are in place to recover the toppled crane.
"The Health and Safety Executive have been kept fully informed of the incident and of the recovery plan and SRM will conduct a full investigation to ascertain precisely what happened.
Rye Community Transport came to the rescue of Harbour residents stranded in Rye by using their dial-a-ride bus to take them along the Beach Road.
Co-ordinator Pat Hughes said: "The emergency plan worked very well and they were prompt in getting the Beach Road open.
"We swung into action very quickly and helped passengers who would have used the 325 service. The bus would have been too big to get along the Beach Road."
Last year 360 tons of dangerous chemicals poured out after a storage tank at the refinery collapsed.
Rye resident Glenn Morris said: "What is going on down there? SRM still haven't given a proper public account of the chemical leak last year.
"It does make you nervous. I think people are losing confidence."
There was a backlash from residents living close by.
Stuart Doyle, of Winchelsea Road, said: "We have always said that place is a time bomb and that the sooner it is closed down the better."
SRM is the only Tier 1 site in the whole of Sussex under the emergency service's Control of Major Accidental Hazards criteria.
The plant is owned by German cement manufacturers Heidelburg.
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Weather for Hastings
Monday 28 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: South west
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Light rain
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