It is not true to say that there has only been one "failure" unless by failure you mean "death".
Numerous properties have been affected by landfill gas, some being made unsaleable and dangerous to occupy; there have been explosions and fires causing structural damage and injury; and the HSE has closed down industrial premises due to excessive concentrations of methane and even flames coming through a floor . Expensive remedial works have had to be undertaken due to gas from mines and other sources including rotting "clayboard" beneath a recently constructed international bank in London. In this latter case the offending material was eventually removed by mining beneath the building. The issue came to light when someone was injured by gas being ignited in the building.
Loscoe is not the only case where gas migrated over large distances from a landfill and entered buildings, it is just the one that was sufficiently dramatic to attract attention. A porch on a house was blown off shortly before. Loscoe was simply the incident that restored the collective memory of the responsible professionals and regulators at a time when the GLC and other local and waste regulation authorities were well aware of the potential problems and were dealing with them. Buildings were being built with gas protection in the 1960s and as far back as the 1940s in New York.
It suited some people to pretend in their ignorance that nothing was known about migrating landfill gas before Loscoe.
One of the three key sites that led to ICRCL being set up in 1977 was a large old landfill in London where construction of houses led to gas generation being restarted.
The initial ICRCL guidance was issued in 1978, i.e. before Loscoe, and the technical literature in the 1960s and earlier referred to landfill gas being a potential problem
Regards,
Mike Smith
-----Original Message-----
From: Contaminated Land Management Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Chris Dainton
Sent: 19 March 2019 09:57
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Ground gases - a question: what's the real issue?
Hi Steve (Branch)
"Considering that there has only been one “failure” associated with landfill gas, the amount spent on protecting against a reoccurrence does seem to have been rather disproportionate."
No kidding it's disproportionate: In the time period since Loscoe nearly 9 million people have been injured on UK roads and in excess of 100,000 killed:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reported_Road_Casualties_Great_Britain
Now those are sobering stats.
Chris Dainton
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