Hartlepool fire protection firm wins multi-million pound Yorkshire mining project

Tees-based CFB Risk Management (CFB) has announced its biggest ever contract win of a multi-million pound agreement to protect the £2.9bn Sirius Minerals Mine project in North Yorkshire.

Established in 2011, CFB was the first of its kind to be set up by a UK fire authority. CFB is to protect assets, equipment, workforce and the local community during the five-year construction period and when the project becomes operational.

Ian Hayton, managing director, commented on the significant contract: “This is our biggest contract to date and a massive vote of confidence in our technical expertise, innovative approach and highly professional and skilled workforce.”

Additional highly skilled emergency management and security professionals have now joined CFB’s growing workforce, bringing the current team of permanent employees to around 100, as this new contract will involve significant manpower requirements for several years.

They have all undergone specialised training to meet the particular challenges of dealing with emergencies in a mining environment.

The country’s first new subsurface mine development for 40 years is already under construction near Whitby.

Sirius Minerals PLC, a multinational fertiliser company, is planning to invest billions of pounds into the project, which will produce an initial 10m tonnes each year of polyhalite, a highly effective fertiliser.

The project will create thousands of jobs in construction, mining and in the supply chain.

Hayton continued: “This is a multi-billion pound project for Sirius Minerals and currently the second largest construction project in the UK and one of the biggest in Europe.

“We are proud to have been entrusted with securing and protecting such a major investment that will provide a massive boost to the economy.

“I am sure that our unique expertise and experience within the high hazard sector has been a major factor in securing this contract and we invested considerable time and commitment into providing Sirius Minerals with a pioneering and tailored solution to meet the needs of today’s mining industry.”

CFB Risk Management provides integrated security and emergency management services to blue-chip companies, including Ineos Nitriles (UK) Ltd, BP, Navigator Terminals (Vopak) and Venator (Huntsman).

With a recently established office in Abu Dhabi it is winning contacts in the Middle East as well as across the UK and Europe.

Nigel Chapman, head of health and safety at Sirius Minerals, concluded: “There is nothing more important to us than the safety of our staff.

“We needed to partner with someone who was capable of delivering world-class safety and security procedures and rigorous emergency protocols and was capable of applying them to the unique challenges of a deep mine.

“The fact that we managed to find this expertise locally on Teesside with CFB Risk Management is a huge bonus, as we are committed to ensuring that local people share in the economic benefits from the project as much as possible.”