During the night of 25 to 26 September 2019, a fire broke out at the Lubrizol Seveso site in Rouen.
The Lubrizol plant in Rouen produces additives for lubricants, and as such, processes and stores phosphorus and organosulphur chemicals. Storage was outsourced to the neighbouring company 'Normandie Logistics', which is located next to the production site.
Because of the outsourcing of the storage, only the Lubrizol plant was classified as a Seveso "high threshold". The Normandie Logisitics warehouse was not classified as Seveso.
Nearly 5,262 tonnes of dangerous products went up in smoke.
There were no deaths or injuries, but the environmental consequences were significant.
The city of Rouen was quickly engulfed by the plume of black smoke and threatened by the fallout of the combustion products, which spread across the entire region downwind, polluting the air, soil and water to varying degrees.
The smoke cloud flew over Belgium before reaching the Netherlands.
The course of the fire, the emergency response, the crisis management and the many unanswered questions will be the subject of a later article in Fire Security Alert Magazine as more information becomes available.
What does SEVESO mean?
A Seveso company is a company that has an activity related to the handling, manufacture, use or storage of dangerous substances (e.g. refineries, (petro)chemical sites, oil depots or explosives depots).
Seveso is a municipality in northern Italy, known for an industrial accident on 10 July 1976. After the explosion of a chemical plant, a cloud of dioxin spread in the surroundings.
The name "Seveso" has since been attached to the European directive on the control of major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances, which requires, among other things, the identification of industrial establishments presenting major risks.
There are two types of establishments, 'high threshold' Seveso establishments and 'low threshold' Seveso establishments, depending on the danger and quantity of the products present.
For more information on regulations and safety measures www.seveso.be
