The union had earlier stepped in and submitted a “collective grievance” over non-payment of wages to staff during the consultation period over potential redundancies.

It had earlier called a special meeting in the village of Bosley, where the explosion occurred at Wood Treatment Ltd on July 17.

“GMB welcomes the statement that wages will be paid to workers during redundancy consultations following the tragic blast at plant in July,” a GMB statement said.

“The grievance on unpaid wages is resolved with a satisfactory outcome for our members and this particular aspect of this tragic matter is now closed.”

The owners made a statement on August 12 saying it had always been their intention to pay workers during the consultation.

Meanwhile, the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) has served a prohibition notice on the company’s site, preventing work in one area, and an improvement notice has been served for another area. The notices – relating to dust issues containing equipment at the site – were served as part of an on-going investigation.

The HSE said it is working with the company to ensure safety and it continues to liaise closely with Cheshire Police and Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service.

“HSE inspectors continue to work closely with emergency services in the ongoing investigation into the cause of this tragic incident,” said HSE head of operations for the North West, Steve Smith.

“HSE specialists are on site to assist with the collection of evidence in order to try to establish exactly what happened.”

A four-storey building collapsed following the explosion and about 150 tonnes of wood shavings were involved in the fire. Wood Treatment Ltd processes European softwood residues into several products.

Fibretron is softwood processed into uniform fibres for a variety of industries and can be mixed with plastic for use in extrusion/injection mouldings purposes.

Other products manufactured at the factory are Filtron, a natural alternative to traditional mineral filter aids and the Smart Cat cat litter product based on 4mm wood pellets.