Buncefield fines -

Five companies have been told to pay more than £9m for their parts in the Buncefield oil depot fire which occurred in December 2005. It is reported that the explosion was equivalent to a 2.4-magnitude earthquake and it caused Europe's biggest fire since World War Two.

Sentencing the firms at St Albans Crown Court, Judge Sir David Calvert-Smith said:

"Had the explosion happened during a working day, the loss of life may have been measured in tens or even hundreds."

The companies were fined a total of £5.35m and ordered to pay costs of £4.08m.

Total was fined £3.6m plus £2.6m in costs, Hertfordshire Oil Storage was fined £1.45m plus £1m costs, British Pipeline Agency will pay £300,000 plus £480,000 in costs, Motherwell Control Systems 2003 Ltd (now in administration) and TAV Engineering were both fined £1,000 and each ordered to pay £500 in costs.

Scores on the foods - Food Hygiene

The launch of the new Scores on the Doors website has sharpened the focus on restaurant hygiene. The scores are based on audits conducted by Environmental Health Officers on visits to premises.

For those with a strong health and hygiene record, the chance to have their scores displayed on a website is a great opportunity to obtain more customers and communicate high standards. Conversely, those with low scores are facing increasing media scrutiny: with a string of articles using Scores on the Doors to condemn and vilify restaurants for their poor hygiene.

The control of pests, such as mice, rats, flies and cockroaches, is a crucial aspect of a restaurant’s overall hygiene and one that all restaurant owners should be aware of. There is no reason for restaurants to fear the negative consequences if they are aware of the signs to look for and take simple preventative measures to reduce the level of risk.
Here are a few handy hints that are useful to remember:

• dark spots on ceilings can be identified as fly faeces
• dark smear marks on the floors, doors and skirting boards will appear from mice and rodents’ fur
• droppings and smears can appear in areas that are not regularly cleaned, such as the window display of a restaurant
• fly traps with large amounts of dead flies probably don’t work any more and will need servicing

But perhaps the most important method of preventing infestation is to ensure that your premises is clean and tidy. Not only will this help to improve your overall score, but a clean and tidy premises is one that pests don’t tend to infest.

• Food should also be stored correctly on shelving, and in refrigerators and freezer units.
• Crates and boxes should be stacked 70cm away from the wall to prevent rodents getting easy access.
• Kitchen, and front-of-house staff need to be educated on the signs and risks of infestation and should be expected to act responsibly when cleaning the premises and handling food.
• Restaurants should arrange preventative inspections, rather than hiring them reactively.

As more councils sign up to the scheme, scores are becoming more important in attracting business and retaining existing business and, hopefully, raise the general standards of the industry.

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