Bellevue Hazardous Waste Fire Enquiry - Assignment Example

The Bellevue Fire Introduction: The Waste Control Pty Ltd hazardous waste and solvent recycling facility in Bellevue was under fire on Thursday, 15th February 2001. The Waste Control site is located at Bulbey Street in Bellevue in Western Australia. The location has Oliver Street and Bulbey Street bordering it in the south – west and north - east respectively. The north – west area is the Pioneer concrete and it is an open land to the south – east. The Bellevue area is an industrial suburb. The fire occurred in the southern portion of the land, 10 meters south of the main office area of the company. The southern area consisted of an estimated 2000 to 3000 storage drums, which had chemicals in them. All these were destroyed in the fire. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent of risk assessment and risk management that has been carried out in the past and after the Bellevue Waste Control fire. The paper examines the toxicological understandings after the fire incident and the nature of risk assessment done at the site. This paper also brings about the issues in communication at the time of emergency. The Waste Control Pty Ltd: The company was established in 1989 as a waste collection and recycling unit for industrial waste. It was licensed to operate from January 1990 as a chemical recycling and waste treatment unit. It also had the license for storage of dangerous goods. The main activities of the waste control included collection of waste and recycling of flammable liquids, solvents, toxic wastes, corrosive substances and water with high level of contamination. The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) kept the company under “Prescribed premises”, those engaged in activities listed by the Environmental Protection Regulation under schedule 1. Past risk assessment and risk management: The company was given permission to store and recycle waste in the site. But the report by the Economic and Industry standard committee on the Bellevue Hazardous waste fire inquiry says that the storage manner did not comply with the regulations. “During court proceedings against the company in April 2001, it was stated: In 1999, approximately 2000 205-litre drums of waste dating back up to 10 years were held on the premises. The manner of storage of much of this waste did not comply with the requirements of the Dangerous Goods Act and the Explosives and Dangerous Goods Handling and Storage Regulations 1992.” 1 The only past risk assessment was that the company was listed as prescribed premises by the Department of Environmental Protection. The Environment Protection Association (EPA) decided during the proposal of the waste control that the site did not require any formal Environment Impact Assessment under Part IV of the Environment Protection Act. It is the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) that takes decisions on the establishment and planning and processing of possible health and environmental risks due to an enterprise. The Department of Environment Protection also did not do proper assessment of the hazardous wastes and its possible risks, both health risks and natural or social risks before approving license to the company. Two important findings were made by the Economic and Industry Standard Committee when they inquired the Bellevue fire case. They are The Environmental Protection Authority did not conduct a formal Environmental Impact Assessment on the Waste Control site at any time during the planning or development stages. There is no requirement for a Health Impact Assessment in the Western Australian Environmental Impact Assessment process under the Environmental Protection Act 1986. 2 The planning for hazardous industry involves many steps and hazardous industries are those which pose significant risk to the locality or human health and life and property, while it is operating, even when measures are taken to minimise the impact. The report finds that no possible measures are possible for the local government to be notified of any expansion or change of activities that are present in a hazardous industry once they start working. The report also found that the Waste Control Pty Ltd did not satisfy any of the standards put by the Western Australian Planning Commission’s policy on Planning of Hazardous and Safety sites. Also no buffer zones were created for the safety of residential layouts near the plant. The waste control site was in fact very near to residential housings, primary schools and livestock yard and river and continued to change and expand. All these show the lack of risk assessment and risk management in the past in the Bellevue area. However, the Explosives and Dangerous Goods Division of the Department of Minerals and Energy had issued lot of warnings against the Waste Control Company after their inspection found defects in the storage of dangerous goods on the company premises. But, a detailed risk assessment of the various operations relating to licensed dangerous goods at the Waste Control premises was not conducted by the Department of Minerals and Energy. 3 Toxicological Understandings: Due to the non compliance to safety procedures and license conditions, the site was highly dangerous and posed serious health and environmental risk. The Department of Environment Protection had alerted the Water and the Rivers commission on a chemical spill at the site in July 1999. Concerns about the spills were raised by a number of agencies. The fire emergency personnel informed about the presence of mercury at the site at the time of the fire. The Department of Environmental Protection also stated the presence of almost 70 litres of mercury at the site and was confirmed that they were not consumed by fire. At the time of the fire the following classes of dangerous and hazardous substances were on the site. Classification Substance Class 3 Flammable Liquids Flammable Solvents Paint Thinners White Spirit Turpentine Paint Methyl Ethyl Ketone Toluene Flammable liquids not otherwise specified Class 6 toxic substances Per chloro ethylene Class 5 Oxidising Substances and Organic Peroxides Hydrogen peroxide Methyl ethyl ketone peroxide Class 8 corrosive substances Corrosive liquid N O S Acids Corrosive liquid N O S Alkaline Industrial Lead Acid Batteries Hypochlorite Solution Combustible Substances Waste oil Oils various 4 Per chloro ethylene or Tetra chloro ethylene is a primary dry cleaning agent and industrial solvent. It is used as a solvent for fats, oils, tar, rubber, gums, metals etc. Epidemiological studies indicate that long term exposures to tetra chloro ethylene can lead to lymphosarcomas, leukemia and cancers to skin, urinary bladder, colon, lungs, urogenital tract etc. Xylene, a flammable liquid can cause reddening of face, disturbed vision, dizziness, tremors, drowsiness depression of the central nervous system leading to coma when inhaled. Acetone, methyl Ethyl Ketone , Ethyl acetate, Isopropyl alcohol, and ethanol are all classified as flammable liquids that can cause irritation of the eyes, nose and throat causing dizziness and nausea due to their exposure. Toluene, a flammable, refractive liquid is absorbed readily into the blood stream on inhalation or skin contact. Toluene can cause dermatitis, local irritation, excitation of the central nervous system, drowsiness, impaired balance, vision disturbances, nausea etc. Contaminated site Risk Assessment: “The Contaminated Sites Act 2003 defines “contaminated” as “having a substance present in or on that land, water or site at above background concentrations that presents, or has the potential to present, a risk of harm to human health, the environment or any environmental value.”” 5 Risk assessment is undertaken on potential contaminated sites. It is done to determine the affect of the contamination on the human and animal health and environment. A conceptual site model is made for risk assessment and management. “Risk assessment involves assessing the potential for exposure to contamination and the severity of the effect of such exposure. It is a tool that is intended to provide the information necessary to make informed decisions regarding the requirements for management of the contamination.” 6 The tier 1 of screening risk assessment includes comparing the concentration of substances in soil, water or air against a pre determined value set by the guidelines. If the levels are below the prescribed limits, then it is concluded to be free of risk and further assessment is not done. The tier 2 is simple risk assessment were the underlying assumptions about the risk factors are examined. Basic modelling and dispersion calculations are done and if the substance levels fail to fall inside the simple risk assessment criteria then detailed risk assessment is prescribed. The tier 3 detailed risk assessments is done by examining and understanding the nature of the substances involved on the sites and pathways. “Site - specific criteria may be developed through these methods however, contaminated sites Auditors and regulatory authorities will review these methods to ensure they are acceptable.” 7 Relationship of risk assessment and risk management in the Australian framework 8 The fire emergency: The Fire and emergency services authority received the phone call at 11 pm on February 15 2001 reporting the fire at the waste control. The initial assessment of the incident was made as soon as the fire fighters arrived at the scene of the incident. The Incidence Management Team and the Hazardous Emergency Advisory Team was summoned as soon as the fire was confirmed. The first step taken by the Incidence Management Team was to allow the fire to burn freely consuming the flammable liquids so that more concentration can be given on cooling the onsite property from the exposure to fire. The main risk issues were identified as water runoff and smoke plume caused by the flames and fire suppression activities. The entire premises of the waste control was damaged and destroyed by fire except the front entrance, office building and the laboratory. The Department of Environmental Protection installed bunds to close the site and block the drains to prevent the contamination of the river water while fire emergency. Risk assessment and risk management after the event: Investigations were done to assess the risk caused by the fire to air, water and ground. Also post fire clean ups were done and the site was made inaccessible to the general public to reduce further risks. The initial studies show that the fire does not pose human health risks. Samples were collected from soil, water, ground water, and neighbouring infrastructure and analysed. The analysis showed excessive values of contaminants. Ground water investigations were done by comparing new ground water samples and existing bore water samples. Soil cutting management and waste water management was also determined. These were analysed for the presence of semi volatile components and volatile components and PCBs. “The VOC and SVOC analysis includes in excess of 150 organic compounds in the following groupings: • Phenols • Poly aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) • Phthalate esters • Nitrosamines • Nitroaromatics and ketones • Haloethers • Chlorinated hydrocarbons • Anilines and benzidines • Organochlorine (OC) and organophosphorus (OP) pesticides • Monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (MAH) • Oxygenated and sulfonated compounds • Fumigants • Halogenated aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons • Trihalomethanes.” 9 Risk management procedures were employed during the cleanup of the site. Site decontamination was done on Oliver Street and Bulbey Street and associated infrastructure. The damp land and Pioneer Concrete Materials were also decontaminated. The storm water drains, water channels and the Bellevue primary School were all brought under decontamination procedures. “Priority was given to the decontamination of all vehicles and other equipment leaving the Waste Control site. To this end, a concrete decontamination pad, located on the Oliver Street end of the Waste Control site, was established by CTS.” 10 The decontamination processes generated a lot of contaminated water which were collected and removed by Cleanaway Tankers. Pressure washing of neighbouring infrastructure was done. The soil at the fire site was analysed and was seen to be contaminated. This soil was decontaminated and the impacted soil was removed for treatment. All assessments done on the water and soil at the fire site complied to risk assessment and management strategies followed by Western Australia. Risk communication issues: “Intelligence communication from the site was limited in the early stages of the fire emergency and the IMT focussed on the Waste Control site. At 00.30 hours (12.30 am, Friday 16 February) the Incident Controller initiated sectorisation of the fire area, - that is, the site was divided into smaller, manageable sections controlled by a Sector Commander to increase command and control functions.” 11 There was communication confusion on how to classify the fire. The fire was first classified as flammable fire and structural emergency. But the original classification must be in Hazardous Material fire. This resulted in confusion on what type of fire fighters should be called to the site. Difficulties were experienced in the communication between the Hazardous Emergency Advisory Team and the Incidence management team at the disaster site. Conclusion: The conclusion refers to the overall application and effectiveness of risk assessment and risk management of this case. It is found in this essay that the Waste Control Pty Ltd did not comply with any risk assessment before the fire accident in February 2001. Also, the company stored an excess of highly hazardous materials in their premises. The original cause of the fire is unknown, but the company’s non compliance with risk management has caused to increase the extent of the fire disaster. During fire emergency, all risk assessment and management were monitored and complied by the related departments and agencies. Risk assessment based on the three tiers of risk assessment procedure was done on the soil and water of the site and neighbouring premises. Decontamination procedures were done on the premises, soil, water and neighbouring infrastructure and the excess water was collected and taken away. No immediate health risks are found on any of the inhabitants. 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Department of Environment and Conservation: Contaminated Sites Management Series. http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:i1gg4a4UfP0J:www.dec.wa.gov.au/component/option,com_docman/gid,1231/task,doc_download/+risk+assessment&hl=en&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgS_7XNCnePxwVKmzAEXoozrDMpjt9u7WJQkQGrk1lt8DeMZkaczRbCg8Ph7VAJZAAdf9CStIbIh9ORj0dP47xalo3BypiJaYrkbcTF4ggN6WsgIS_uEzJllX0zo-8owvYpAFnE&sig=AFQjCNH4YxMrHe7eGSYqWgPtANqSkz48tg (accessed October 30, 2009). Read More