THE explosion at a Manchester chemical plant last Sunday night confirmed the fears and the terror of all those who have to live under such threats. One person killed, another seriously injured, and a village is all too aware that it's been 'lucky', such is the enormity of living with dangerous chemicals.
As Labour MP, Tom Pendry, who has called for an inquiry into the disaster, said, 'If it had not been for the vigilance of the fire service and if there had been a wind instead of a dead calm, there could have been a terrible tragedy.'
The Secretary of State had earlier overruled an order by the local council to immediately remove the chemical drums which local people had been concerned about.
Chemstar had previously taken over the site from a printing firm but no planning permission was needed because once the site has been allocated for 'general industrial use', there is no need for any other permission to be sought.
This potentially horrendous situation exists up and down the country, in many instances not even known to the local community.
The Guardian last Tuesday explained: 'Thousands of firms own factories and warehouses in Britain with chemical stores close by or in the middle of large centres of population, but no one knows officially where they are...
'Regulations were drawn up four years ago but their introduction has met strong opposition from industry.'
It is unfortunately the old, old story, as old as the profit motive itself.
Of course, there's always an outcry, after the damage is done and people's homes and lives lie in ruins. Aberfan, Flixborough, Seveso in northern Italy have all become definitions for tragedies.
But they are tragedies that could so easily have been avoided if human needs had been put before a few people's greed.
The managing director of Chemstar, George Molyneux, said he expected the plant to reopen eventually although he admitted local people did not like the factory being there.
Too right they don't. As local Conservation Society chairperson, Frank Swallow, put it, 'This is just the nightmare that has come true. If they try to reopen the place, it will be over my dead body. All the villagers feel the same.'
There should be full support for a public inquiry into the Chemstar explosion. But we know the answers already. As the Sunday Times put it as long ago as 1976, 'The grim equation: people plus chemicals equal risk.'
That risk is unacceptable. But as more and more workers are threatened with the dole, even the little gains that have been made on the health and safety front will become eroded. Even one person's death is a tragedy when it can so easily be avoided.