The owners of a mill in Bosley where four people are feared dead from a blast were warned of a risk of an explosion two years ago.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) served an improvement notice on Wood Treatment Limited in 2013 after it noted it had failed to ensure the risk of fire or explosion from liquid petroleum gas stored at the plant in Bosley.
The company later complied with the notice.
The search operation for the missing workers continues after Friday morning’s series of explosions which ripped apart the wood flour mill as a 1,000 centigrade inferno reduced the four-storey building to rubble.
One body has been recovered so far but has not yet been positively identified.
The families of William Barks, 51, Dorothy Bailey, 62, Jason Shingler, 38, and Derek Moore, 62, have been informed.
Fire and rescue teams have been working non-stop to find the missing four since the blast in the village near Macclesfield.
But fire chiefs conceded that while they carry on the methodical search of the site, the chances of finding anyone alive were fading.
In the HSE notice served in March 2013, Wood Treatment was told “you have failed to ensure that the risk from fire or explosion involving LPG stored in your two bulk tanks at the side of the Station Shed North at your premises at Tunstall Road is either eliminated or reduced, so far as is reasonably practicable”.
It added that the tanks “are not protected by suitable barriers to minimise the risk of damage from vehicle impact; the concrete path has not been fitted with suitable barriers to prevent falls; and combustible materials are stored within the separation distance”.
Enforcement officers from Cheshire East Council were on the site just two weeks ago to make sure the firm cleared the area after complaints of sawdust. The site was also struck by two fires, in 2010 and 2012.
Wood Treatment, part of The Boden Group of Companies, has yet to make any statement about Friday’s incident.
A Boden Group employee said the company directors - thought to be brothers George and Charles Boden - were unavailable for comment.
Six fire engines are on site at the wreckage scene, with three fire crews in each of the two areas of the wreckage identified by sniffer dogs.
Two high volume pumps are providing water so that firefighters can continue to cool the site, said Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service.
Police and HSE investigators are also working on site.
