Colliding robots cause fire at Ocado Customer Fulfilment Centre
19 July 2021
Ocado Andover CFC
A fire started at Ocado’s Erith Customer Fulfilment Centre (CFC) on 16 July after three of its robots that help pick groceries collided.
In a statement, Ocado said: “The incident at our Erith CFC on 16/07/21 appears to have been caused by the collision of three bots on the grid resulting in a fire…. No one has been injured and all colleagues on site are safe. The damage is limited to a small section of less than 1% of the grid having been contained by planned fire attenuation measures.
“Aside from some residual smoke smell, the vast majority of the CFC is in good condition. While we expect some disruption to operations, we are working to restore normal service as soon as possible.”
Ocado Customer Fulfilment Centres (CFCs) are its most established major distribution depots. Ocado started pilot deliveries from the Hatfield CFC1 in 2001, and it completes around 150,000 orders per week. The warehouse is equivalent to 11 football pitches in size and stands 20 metres tall.
The BBC reports that, “Around 800 staff had to be evacuated and firefighters worked through the night to contain the incident. It is the second fire involving robots at Ocado. Its Andover facility burned down in 2019 after an electrical fault.”
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