Environment Court rules on Sims Metal after nine fires in five years, $30,000 fine

A South Auckland scrap metal business has been fined $30,000 and must change fire and emergency planning, stockpiles, training, monitoring and access to its yard after nine fires in five years.

Auckland Council sought and won several Environment Court enforcement orders against Simsmetal Industries.

Separately, in the District Court at Auckland, Sims was on April 17 fined $30,000, of which 90% must go to the council.

Two years ago, Fire and Emergency NZ said recurring fires at the site were “not good enough”.

In a decision of April 28, the Environment Court issued a number of enforcements, including on-site access externally and internally.

Fire risk management planning and stockpile management planning orders were set out by Judge Jeff Smith.

Fire and Emergency crews work to put out a blaze at Sims Metal on James Fletcher Drive in Favona, South Auckland in May 2023. Photo / Alex Burton

The decision said changes must be made to the property at 263 James Fletcher Drive, Favona.

Access must be maintained off the adjoining Kiwi St, so it became a functional secondary point of entry, the orders said.

A fire risk management plan must be prepared for council certification. That should be written in consultation with Fire and Emergency New Zealand.

In 2023, the Herald reported that nearby heavy industries were forced to stop work because of toxic smoke.

Trains were also forced to stop running.

Sims apologised to neighbours and nearby employees for the inconvenience created by the fire.

“The health and welfare of our community ... is of paramount importance to us, and we are deeply sorry for the inconvenience that this incident has caused,” the company said in 2023.

Smoke from the Sims Pacific Metals fire. Photo / Brett Phibbs

“Our practice is to never speculate on the cause of a fire, but we will conduct a review of the incident and take appropriate action to mitigate the possibility of a recurrence, including further review and assessment of inbound material to identify potentially harmful components.”

The April court decision sought minimum training requirements for all employees or personnel involved in handling combustible recyclable waste material. They must be trained particularly in how to identify lithium-ion batteries and taught how to remove those from incoming loads during inspections and sorting.

Sims must provide contact details for the employee who is to be contactable by Fire and Emergency New Zealand or the council at any time if there is a fire.

Who can coordinate machinery operators to move stockpiles or combustible waste must also be made known.

Sims must undertake active monitoring of its stockpiles after hours to assist with the early detection of fire.

After hours means the time the last employee leaves the site, the decision said.

The company must conduct a review of its planning every three years to reflect best practice in fire risk management. Those plans must be given to the authorities, the judge ruled.

Each stockpile cannot be bigger than 20m by 20m and 10m high.

If they are larger, experienced people must be on the site at all times to monitor those stockpiles, the orders said.

Companies Office records show Simsmetal Industries is owned by Sims Industrial and Simsmetal Services, both of Mascot, New South Wales.

The New Zealand company made a net profit of $12.7 million in the 2024 financial year on revenue of $254.8m.

Anne Gibson has been the Herald‘s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.