Fire Shield Systems has provided waste management company Hamilton Waste and Recycling and cement company Tarmac with “specialised and technical” fire safety systems to safeguard the production and storage of solid recovered fuel (SRF).

Fire Shield was engaged by the two companies last year after Tarmac partnered with Hamilton Waste in spring 2019 with to boost the sustainability of its cement plant in Dunbar, Scotland.

This included using SRF produced at Hamilton Waste’s Edinburgh site from non-recyclable waste material, to fuel Tarmac’s Dunbar plant’s operations.

Director of Fire Shield Systems James Mountain underlined that “the production of SRF carries a high fire risk, which, if not managed properly, can impact on the safety of people, machinery and other resources. The safe storage of any flammable materials also requires careful planning and consideration.”

Accordingly, Field Shield Systems surveyed the relevant fire risks at the process and storage areas of the two sites and designed two “bespoke, automatic systems” approved by Tarmac and Hamilton Waste’s insurers and the Environment Agency.

At Hamilton Waste’s production site, Fire Shield Systems installed a fire cannon and organic class A wetting agency, operated by a multi-zonal, flame-detection system to target suppression, offer fast protection and minimal clean up.

A standalone fire suppression Dafo system was also installed to protect the machinery-drive enclosure, which Mountain said “offers robust and reliable, linear, heat detection, using mains power and a stored-nitrogen cartridge to operate the foam hybrid wetting agent to provide maximum protection.”

At Tarmac’s plant, Field Shield Systems designed a type-tested, water spray system, designed for its efficiency in water usage and reduction in contaminated run offs. The water spray system operates with fast-acting, IR3 flame detection which means, in the event of activation, any operations downtime is minimised.

Commenting on the results of Fire Shield’s fire protection system, David Hamilton, Director of Hamilton Waste, said:  “We’ve used other systems in the past, but this situation required a more specialised and technical solution. Fire Shield’s experience in installing similar systems gave us confidence in the team’s expertise.

“From start to finish, Fire Shield has been very professional. We couldn’t fault the service.  They’ve delivered the best-in-class and most cost-effective solution to a very high standard. We would absolutely recommend Fire Shield Systems to other businesses looking to improve the fire safety of their operations. We couldn’t be happier with the results.”