Know your risks

What is the risk? Staffordshire has a number of large industrial sites that work with chemicals. These sites are strictly regulated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and have to follow detailed safety plans.

While an incident is very unlikely, an accidental fire, explosion, or chemical leak could affect the local area.

What to do during an incident:

If a chemical incident happens near you, the emergency services will provide advice. The single most important advice is: "Go In, Stay In, Tune In."

• Go In: Go indoors immediately.
• Stay In: Close all windows and doors. This will stop any chemical vapour or smoke from getting inside.
• Tune In: Tune in to your local BBC radio station or follow local emergency services on social media. They will give you more instructions, such as when it is safe to go back outside.

If you are told to evacuate, please do so. If you are in your car, close all windows and air vents and drive away from the area if it is safe.

Further guidance to help people respond safely to incidents involving hazardous substances, including ‘acid attacks’ can be found at Protect UK.