Incident alert

A company has reported two instances that occurred in the same week where their cigarette disposal facilities had caught fire. In one case a smouldering bin was reported, in the second a bin had caught alight and had to be put out with a fire extinguisher.

The incident where the bin was alight was caused by paper cups that had been placed within the bin, the unit overflowing and it had not been emptied recently. Looking around the area, there were discarded cigarette packets and other flammable materials present as well.

The images below show the bins with fire damage and litter around the site.

• All sites must ensure that their smoking facilities are cleaned and emptied on a regular basis. Bins should not be allowed to become full.
• All employees must extinguish their cigarettes before they place them in the bins provided.
• All other waste must be taken away from the smoking area and disposed of in general waste bins, not stuffed into the smoking bins.
• Good housekeeping is a basic requirement – do not litter our sites with discarded smoking materials or general waste.
• Only smoke within designated areas – do not place people and plant at risk by smoking elsewhere.