Information
37Fire-brigades, police, and c, to be notified of certain pipe-line accidents and to be furnished with information
1
It shall, in the case of every pipe-line, be the duty of the owner thereof to make, and to ensure the efficient carrying out of, arrangements whereby, in the event of the accidental escape or the ignition of any thing in the line, immediate notice of the event is given—
a
to every fire and police authority by whom duties will or may fall to be discharged in consequence of the happening of the event;
b
to all river boards, river purification authorities, statutory water undertakers and local water authorities who will or may have, in consequence of the happening of the event, to take steps to prevent or combat pollution of water or flooding ;
c
to all sewerage authorities who will or may have, in consequence of the happening of the event, to take steps to prevent injury to their sewers or sewage disposal works, interference with the free flow of the contents of any of their sewers or the prejudicial affection of the treatment and disposal of such contents or to combat the effects of any such injury, interference or affection; and
d
to any other authority, board or undertakers whom the Minister, by notice served on the owner of the line, requires him to treat, for the purposes of this section, as relevant in relation to the line, being an authority or board, or undertakers, in the case of whom it is stated in the notice that the Minister is satisfied that they will or may have, in consequence of the happening of the event, to take in the public interest steps for such purpose as may be specified in the notice.
2
It shall be the duty of the owner of a pipe-line if requested so to do by any authority, board or undertakers for whose notification, in the event specified in the last foregoing subsection, arrangements are thereby required to be made, to furnish the authority, board or undertakers with such maps, and to give them such information, as they may reasonably require in order—
a
in the case of a fire or police authority, to enable them efficiently to discharge the duties falling to be discharged by them in consequence of the happening of the event;
b
in the case of any river board, river purification authority, statutory water undertakers or local water authority, to enable them efficiently to take, in consequence of the happening of the event, steps to prevent or combat pollution of water or flooding ;
c
in the case of a sewerage authority, to enable them efficiently to take, in consequence of the happening of the event, steps for either of the purposes mentioned in paragraph (c) of that subsection ;
d
in the case of any authority, board or undertakers whom the owner is, by a notice served under paragraph (d) of that subsection, required to treat, for the purposes of this section, as relevant in relation to the line, to enable them efficiently to take, in consequence of the happening of the event, steps for the purpose specified in the notice.
3
A person who fails to satisfy an obligation to which he is subject by virtue of either of the foregoing subsections shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.
4
In this section—
a
" fire authority " means, in relation to any area, the authority discharging therein the functions of fire authority under the Fire Services Act, 1947;
b
" river board " and " river purification authority " mean respectively a river board within the meaning of the Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) Act, 1951, and a river purification authority within the meaning of the Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) (Scotland) Act, 1951 ;
c
" sewerage authority " means an authority which is a sewerage authority for the purposes of Part II of the Public Health Act, 1936, the Common Council of the City of London, the council of a county in Scotland, the town council of a burgh, a development corporation established under the New Towns Act, 1946, and the Commission for the New Towns ;
and any reference in this section to a sewer shall be construed as including a reference to any manholes, ventilating shafts, pumps or other accessories belonging to that sewer, and any reference in this section to sewage disposal works shall be construed as including a reference to the machinery and equipment of those works and any necessary pumping stations and outfall pipes.