A firm on Ellesmere Port’s outskirts has hit the gold standard for measures to keep its consumers safe - just a month after being fined following an incident in which two employees were injured in a fire.

Elton-based glass bottle manufacturer Encirc Ltd was awarded full marks at an audit for the British Retail Consortium (BRC) involving a leading food safety and quality certification check.

The company produces more than 2.5bn glass bottles and other containers annually in Cheshire and Northern Ireland and can fill up to 250m litres of bulk shipped beverages every year.

It received the grading for what was termed ‘zero non-conformances’ affecting its packaging and packaging materials for the second consecutive year.

Auditors said they were ‘highly impressed’ with the sparkling hygiene at the Elton site as well as by Encirc’s stringent quality control guidelines and advanced technology.

They gave the manufacturer an A grade with no areas for improvement.

Last month, however, the company was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following an incident at the plant on Wednesday, May 14 2014.

Liverpool Magistrates’ Court heard two employee fitters working in the mould shop suffered burns to their face and head when a gas canister exploded.

Encirc pleaded guilty to breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £18,000 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £4,840.90.

But the safety grade awarded to the firm this week was measured by standards applied by the BRC, one of the UK’s largest trade associations and are designed to create a gold standard for manufacturers to meet to safeguard the wellbeing of consumers.

Audits are carried out every year to ensure production facilities continue to meet the requirements.

Commenting on the audit, Owen Gordon, quality development manager at Encirc, said: “Consumer trust in the safety of the products they eat and drink is crucial to the future success of the entire food and beverage industry which is why it’s so important for manufacturers to ensure they uphold the strictest quality control protocols across their site.

“With such impressive feedback from the BRC, we can demonstrate to customers that we have the safety measures in place.”

Encirc has almost 1,200 employees at its two purpose-built sites.