The industrial and commercial revolution of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries saw a considerable rise in the prosperity of the port of Liverpool.

Tobacco, sugar and cotton were arriving daily and with no regulation and poor warehousing practices fire began to become an ever-increasing problem.

In the early hours of Friday 23 September 1842 a fire started in a "dry salters yard" in Crompton Street in the heart of Liverpool's Dockland.

The original Salvage Committee established a set of rules and regulations for all warehouses and sheds seeking to do business in the Liverpool area and who wanted to buy insurance cover.

Each registered premises was inspected in detail every year against the original classification and was randomly visited 2 or 3 times a week to make sure storage and housekeeping was of a high standard.

By these rules and regulations a great deal of order and organisation was brought to Liverpool's warehousing industry and in return for cooperating the warehouse owners enjoyed a preferential rate of insurance.

Huge savings can be made by expert crews who have been trained in loss prevention measures and can prioritise their actions based on commercial knowledge.