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Replace Buried Metallic LPG Pipes

ICL Inquiry · The ICL Inquiry Report: Explosion at Grovepark Mills, Maryhill, Glasgow, 11 May 2004 · Issued 16 July 2009 · Addressed to: Health and Safety Executive

Government responseDepartment for Work and Pensions: Accepted (Mar 2010)

DeliveryHealth and Safety Executive says partially delivered (Aug 2016)

Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry

●Inquiry recommendation

An urgent programme of replacement of buried metallic LPG pipework with polyethylene piping should be implemented.

ICL Inquiry, The ICL Inquiry Report: Explosion at Grovepark Mills, Maryhill, Glasgow, 11 May 2004 · 16 Jul 2009 Source PDF →

Published evidence summary

AI-generated evidence summary

The Inquiry recommended urgently replacing buried metallic liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) pipework with polyethylene. In August 2016, UKLPG and the Health and Safety Executive reported that suppliers had replaced pipework at approximately 4,500 priority 1 sites by 2015, but explained that longer deadlines applied to lower-risk pipes while regulators addressed remaining resistant customers (UKLPG and Health and Safety Executive, Aug 2016). HM Government had agreed in March 2010 that metallic service pipework in industrial and commercial premises should be replaced (Department for Work and Pensions response, Mar 2010). In August 2009, Judith Hackitt CBE, Chair of the executive, had initially planned to complete the replacement programme by the end of 2015 (Judith Hackitt, Aug 2009).

AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 1 Oct 2026.

About this summary
This recommendation applies across many organisations. The record above reflects central policy activity; adoption in individual organisations may vary.

Government response

●Department for Work and Pensions · Accepted · 18 Mar 2010

Words of: HM Government (Department for Work and Pensions), The Government response to the ICL Inquiry Report (Cm 7849), March 2010

The Government recognises that corrosion of the underground metallic service pipe supplying the factory was the key factor that contributed to the explosion at ICL Plastics Ltd and agrees with Lord Gill that there should be a programme of replacement of such pipework in industrial and commercial premises.

Extract from: The Government response to the ICL Inquiry Report: Explosion at Grovepark Mills, Maryhill, Glasgow, 11 May 2004

Site note: The Government's response to the ICL Inquiry report (Cm 7849), presented by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. The paper is dated March 2010; the day, 18 March 2010, is from her written statement of that day, which says the response "has been laid before Parliament and will be published later today".

Delivery

●Health and Safety Executive says partially delivered · 4 Aug 2016

In 2011, the HSE appointed an Independent Expert Working Group (IEWG) to review progress and advise on the replacement timescale for the low priority premises. The IEWG categorised the low priority risk pipework into four risk groups (p 1 to 4) and came to a view that replacing all by the end of 2015 was not justifiable in terms of additional costs and resource implications. Its conclusions were agreed and accepted by the industry and regulator and meant that priority 1 (p1) low risk pipework was planned to be replaced by end of 2015 with longer deadlines given for even lower risk pipework. LPG suppliers completed work at approximately 4,500 p1 sites by the end of 2015, a small number of resistant or difficult customers are being dealt with by the regulators.

From: Safety changes in the industrial and commercial use of LPG: 2009-2015

Site note: "Safety changes in the industrial and commercial use of LPG: 2009-2015", a joint report by UKLPG and the Health and Safety Executive closing the pipework replacement programme. The same report records that the 2015 deadline for replacing all buried metallic pipework was judged in 2011 "not justifiable in terms of additional costs and resource implications", and that resistant or difficult customers remained outstanding at the end. No recommendation is recorded as delivered on this site for that reason. UKLPG, the trade association for the LPG industry, and the Health and Safety Executive wrote it together; the site files it under the Health and Safety Executive, the body the recommendations are addressed to. The report prints no date: the site dates it 4 August 2016, the date its PDF was created, and its references were last accessed on 16 February 2016.

Earlier statements on delivery (0)

●Health and Safety Executive · 27 Aug 2009

Current plans are to complete the LPG metallic pipeline programme by the end of 2015, with the highest risk pipework completed sooner.

From: Letter from Judith Hackitt (ICL inquiry report)

Site note: The Chair of the Health and Safety Executive's letter to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions of 27 August 2009, reporting on how Lord Gill's recommendations can be taken forward. It sets out a plan, seven months before the Government responded, and is not a record of delivery.

How this page is built

The recommendation and the government responses are verbatim from primary documents. Delivery statements and other bodies' findings are shown in their own words, each with its source. The summary is written by this site and labelled as such. The Index does not paraphrase sources or characterise intent; it records what has been published.