The ESG says it welcomes the information from Government regarding the recent chemical incident at New Harbours but has called for a review to be carried out on "all similar businesses operating locally on their storage standards and safety practices".

A statement from the ESG follows below:

The ESG welcomes the information supplied by Government regarding the ‘chemical incident’ at New Harbours last week. 

Sufficiently serious to cordon off an area the group is relieved no injuries have been reported and commends the agencies involved as first responders dealing with an unexpected and alarming situation. It notes that the chemicals involved have not been named and that this could be helpful to fully clarify what happened.

The group expects that responsibility for this incident will be laid on the company concerned. It calls for an urgent review to be carried out on all similar businesses operating locally on their storage standards and safety practices so that such basic, but dangerous mistakes will not be repeated in future.