Rosyth safety concerns raised

Rosyth dockyard’s safety regime failed to show it could rescue casualties from a potentially devastating accident.

The UK Government’s nuclear safety watchdog has ordered Babcock, the multinational company that operates the Fife dockyard for the Royal Navy, to rerun a test exercise.

An inspection by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) concluded there were flaws in the way that staff looked after injured people during the exercise, code named Nightstar.

There were also communication and command problems dealing with last September’s imagined accident.

Inspectors thought some of the exercise procedures were adequate but others were not.

Douglas Chapman, the SNP MP for Dunfermline and West Fife, plans to raise worries about the Fife base’s emergency arrangements at the next meeting of the House of Commons Defence Select Committee.

He said: “It is of concern that the usually high standards were not met and these findings will create some unease in the local community.”

Babcock pointed out that ONR had found general safety arrangements at the site to be adequate. “An improvement was recommended and accepted by the company in one of the areas relating to emergency arrangements,” said a company spokesman. “A partial re-demonstration will be undertaken following further training – highlighting the benefit in conducting these exercises.”