The Hague, Netherlands - The implementation of fire safety regulations for the storage of packaged hazardous materials often leaves much to be desired. That was the conclusion of the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM) Inspectorate following an inspection of storage locations containing pesticides, waste matter, paints, lacquer and other chemical products. The storage is poor in many areas.

The VROM Inspectorate has therefore determined that the parties involved (i.e. municipalities, provinces, businesses and private inspection agencies) must work together to ensure that fire risks are managed more effectively. Agreements have already been made to this end.

The VROM Inspectorate inspected 58 storage locations around the country, focussing on companies which store more than ten thousand kilos of packaged hazardous materials and which are subject to the highest level of protection. Such storage facilities should not only have an automatic fire extinguishing system, but maintenance and periodic inspections should also be well organised and carried out by a specialised company.

For the vast majority of the storage facilities, the quality of the environmental permit was insufficient, which makes proper inspection and enforcement difficult. In many cases, it was found the facilities lacked clear specifications for the design of the fire safety system and an inspection report with a passing score prior to beginning operations. What's more, the periodic inspections carried out once the facilities are in use, were also frequently found to be substandard.

Provinces and municipalities are responsible for overseeing compliance with the permit requirements. However, the inspection revealed that they do not perform inspections adequately and fail to take action when shortcomings come to light. For example, six storage facilities remained in use - despite the fact that the fire safety system had failed inspection - without any action having been taken to rectify this. At 14 of the 58 storage locations, the VROM Inspectorate encountered genuinely unsafe situations.

The VROM Inspectorate has requested the responsible provinces and municipalities to enforce compliance with the regulations and, where necessary, to revise permits.

As a result of the findings of this investigation, the VROM Inspectorate organised a meeting with the representatives of relevant government authorities, private inspection agencies, the fire brigade, the Dutch Accreditation Council (Raad voor Accreditatie), insurance companies and businesses. Measures were agreed at this meeting which are designed to improve the situation. The progress will be reviewed at the end of the year and, if necessary, new measures will be agreed.

In 2010 the VROM Inspectorate will conduct inspections to assess whether the measures have had the desired effect.

Quelle: Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM), The Netherlands

Zurück