The Labour Department expert who investigated the Icepak fire at Tamahere has been honoured.

Keith Stewart, one of the department’s leading health and safety experts, has been given a lifetime achievement award for his 35 years of dedication to workplace health and safety in New Zealand.

He was honoured for his contribution and commitment to health and safety at this year’s Workplace Health and Safety Awards gala dinner in Auckland on Thursday.

Just two weeks short of the fourth anniversary of the tragic Icepak Coolstores explosion Hamilton Coroner Peter Ryan has released his findings on the death at Tamahere of senior firefighter Derek Lovell.

Derek Lovell, 49, died of traumatic injuries from an explosion on April 5, 2008 at the Devine Rd coolstore facility when he and seven other firefighters responded to a fire alarm triggered by a major leak of highly flammable LPG refrigerant.

Following an inquest held over three-days in September 2011 the Coroner made a number of recommendations designed to prevent further deaths occurring in similar circumstances.

Reports provided to this week’s inquest into the death of firefighter Derek Lovell are comprehensive accounts of the events leading up to and on the day of the 2008 tragedy that are not widely known.

The Fire Service released its report in September 2008 but the more detailed Labour Department report into the explosion and fire more than three years ago has been under wraps until now. The reports are available on Tamahere Forum.

The Hamilton Coroner’s inquest into the death of fireman Derek Lovell at Icepak Coolstores at Tamahere is scheduled for a week starting on Monday, September 5.

Its focus will be on avoiding deaths in similar circumstances in the future.

Senior Station Officer Lovell died and seven other officers were seriously injured when leaking gas ignited while they were investigating an automatic fire alarm at the coolstore on April 5, 2008.

The Hamilton coroner will hold an inquest into the death of fireman Derek Lovell who died in the Icepak Coolstore explosion at Tamahere three years ago.

Senior Station Officer Lovell died and seven other officers were seriously injured when leaking gas ignited while they were investigating an automatic fire alarm at the coolstore on April 5, 2008.

Today, the coroner, Gordon Matenga, held a pre-inquest conference to hear from interested parties who wish to give evidence at the inquest.

A coroner’s inquiry into the death of firefighter Derek Lovell is to get underway next month – just days after the third anniversary of his death following the Icepak Coolstores explosion on April 5, 2008.

Coroner Gordon Matenga has convened a pre-inquest conference on April 28 at the Hamilton District Court to determine the inquest’s likely length.

The aim of the conference is to determine whether people who have registered an interest in Derek Lovell’s death with the coroner wish to give evidence at the inquest, including by witnesses.

The Labour Department has issued a hazard alert after a refrigeration technician was burnt by exploding hydrocarbon-based refrigerant in circumstances disturbingly similar to the fatal Icepak Tamahere blast.

Fonterra is suing Icepak for about $25 million worth of cheese that went up in flames after the fatal explosion at its Tamahere coolstore in 2008.

A second appeal by Mobile Refrigeration Specialists against a $56,200 fine following the fatal Icepak Coolstores fire at Tamahere was dismissed this month.

Mobile Refrigeration Specialists, which unsuccessfully appealed against a $56,200 fine following the fatal Icepak Coolstores fire at Tamahere, has applied to take its case to the Court of Appeal.