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10 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 68/2001
Following last Friday's disaster in Toulouse, a French chemical workers' union has criticised some of the more extreme demands for hazardous industrial plants to be closed or to be moved away from urban areas.
"Legitimate concerns have been mingled with agitatory approaches and speeches by politicians who seem to be trying to duck responsibility for their own decisions on urban planning," the chemical workers' union FCE-CFDT says.
"The chemical, energy and oil industries are essential and our societies could not do without them," the union emphasises. "Unless we transfer their dangers to other populations elsewhere in the world, which would be unacceptable and irresponsible, then what is needed is the identification of risks, openness about their realities and concerted control of them."
It is in this context, the FCE says, that "the situation of enclaved sites [within urban areas] should be examined case by case."
For the FCE, "the safety of employees and the population, respect for the environment, employment levels and employment conditions are interdependent issues." As it points out, this approach is very different to one of leaving workers alone with the risks of their jobs or "condemning them to unemployment."
The union calls for national and regional round-table talks between the public authorities, politicians, enterprises and the "associations concerned."
On Monday, a crisis team set up in Toulouse by the CFDT trade union confederation said it would take part in a civil court action in order to "shed full light on what is one of the biggest industrial disasters ever to take place in France."
The team promised to ensure that "the 2,000 employees directly or indirectly concerned by the activities of the chemical complex will not be the ones to pay for a catastrophe of which they were the first victims."
29 people are known to have been killed in last Friday's explosion at the AZF plant. 22 of these were found on the site of the factory. By Monday evening, the number of injured was officially put at 2,442. On Thursday, 17 of them were still in a serious condition. All those who might have been caught up in the disaster are now thought to have been accounted for.
The AZF plant exploded at about 10.15 local time last Friday morning. Owned by TotalFinaElf, the factory produced nitrogen fertilisers and a number of chemical intermediates. It was next to a plant making rocket fuel and explosives. Hazardous chemicals are gradually being moved out of the area around AZF.
The authorities now say that the blast was almost certainly accidental. Measurements taken around the 15 metre deep crater left by the explosion indicate that it occurred in a concrete warehouse where about 200-300 tonnes of ammonium nitrate were being stored.
Regional newspaper La Dépêche du Midi alleged that the ammonium nitrate was stocked "in a real dump", with minimal surveillance and security. The newspaper also castigated as "incredible negligence" the fact that no plans of the storage building were available. And, La Dépêche said, the storage area was excluded from an inspection by the regional industry and environment authority this May.
According to an International Chemical Safety Card, ammonium nitrate carries a "risk of fire and explosion under confinement and high temperatures." It is "not combustible but enhances combustion of other substances." So the card says that ammonium nitrate must not be brought into contact with "combustible or reducing agents."
UNIONS CRITICISE SAFETY LEVELS
French chemical unions have raised serious questions about safety provisions at AZF and other chemical plants. On Saturday, the country's environment minister said on TV that he would be consulting the unions and others about tightening up industrial safety regulations.
Safety measures at the AZF plant are thought to have been subcontracted to other firms, the French chemical workers' union Fédéchimie CGTFO said in a press release on Friday.
Fédéchimie said that its reps at AZF had "difficulties" in "obtaining the maintenance of safety." Without wishing to prejudge the causes of the explosion, the union "once again alerts the heads of industry and the public authorities to their responsibility to ensure maximum safety for their personnel and for the surrounding population, without systematically racing to compete or opting for profitability at all costs."
The union expressed its compassion to the families of the victims.
The French chemical workers' union FCE-CFDT said the disaster "again underlines ... the absolute necessity of handling chemical risks better. The European White Paper currently being drawn up, which aims to catalogue all chemicals in order to identify and control their risks, is a step forward in that direction. The FCE-CFDT, which totally supports this programme, regrets that European chemical employers, including the UIC in France, are, on the contrary, lobbying to limit the scope of this text and to delay its implementation."
The union also insisted on an investigation to see if the tragedy "is not the result of the widespread policy of cutting costs" in the chemical industry.
Expressing its sympathy and support for the victims and their families, the FCE-CFDT drew attention to "the irresponsibility of the authorities who have allowed urban development around such industrial sites. The FCE-CFDT's trade union teams recently once again alerted the public authorities and managements to this phenomenon and called for measures to be taken."
TotalFinaElf announced on Saturday that it had set aside 10 million French francs (about 1.52 million Euro or 1.39 million US dollars) to "contribute to the rescue work and urgent assistance to the victims." The French state and the city of Toulouse have each pledged a further 10 million.
FCE-CFDT and Fédéchimie are affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).
In messages to Fédéchimie General Secretary Michel Decayeux and FCE-CFDT General Secretary Jacques Kheliff on Friday, the ICEM's General Secretary Fred Higgs expressed the international's shock and sorrow over the disaster. On behalf of ICEM-affiliated workers worldwide, Higgs pledged full support and solidarity to the French chemical workers
"Legitimate concerns have been mingled with agitatory approaches and speeches by politicians who seem to be trying to duck responsibility for their own decisions on urban planning," the chemical workers' union FCE-CFDT says.
"The chemical, energy and oil industries are essential and our societies could not do without them," the union emphasises. "Unless we transfer their dangers to other populations elsewhere in the world, which would be unacceptable and irresponsible, then what is needed is the identification of risks, openness about their realities and concerted control of them."
It is in this context, the FCE says, that "the situation of enclaved sites [within urban areas] should be examined case by case."
For the FCE, "the safety of employees and the population, respect for the environment, employment levels and employment conditions are interdependent issues." As it points out, this approach is very different to one of leaving workers alone with the risks of their jobs or "condemning them to unemployment."
The union calls for national and regional round-table talks between the public authorities, politicians, enterprises and the "associations concerned."
On Monday, a crisis team set up in Toulouse by the CFDT trade union confederation said it would take part in a civil court action in order to "shed full light on what is one of the biggest industrial disasters ever to take place in France."
The team promised to ensure that "the 2,000 employees directly or indirectly concerned by the activities of the chemical complex will not be the ones to pay for a catastrophe of which they were the first victims."
29 people are known to have been killed in last Friday's explosion at the AZF plant. 22 of these were found on the site of the factory. By Monday evening, the number of injured was officially put at 2,442. On Thursday, 17 of them were still in a serious condition. All those who might have been caught up in the disaster are now thought to have been accounted for.
The AZF plant exploded at about 10.15 local time last Friday morning. Owned by TotalFinaElf, the factory produced nitrogen fertilisers and a number of chemical intermediates. It was next to a plant making rocket fuel and explosives. Hazardous chemicals are gradually being moved out of the area around AZF.
The authorities now say that the blast was almost certainly accidental. Measurements taken around the 15 metre deep crater left by the explosion indicate that it occurred in a concrete warehouse where about 200-300 tonnes of ammonium nitrate were being stored.
Regional newspaper La Dépêche du Midi alleged that the ammonium nitrate was stocked "in a real dump", with minimal surveillance and security. The newspaper also castigated as "incredible negligence" the fact that no plans of the storage building were available. And, La Dépêche said, the storage area was excluded from an inspection by the regional industry and environment authority this May.
According to an International Chemical Safety Card, ammonium nitrate carries a "risk of fire and explosion under confinement and high temperatures." It is "not combustible but enhances combustion of other substances." So the card says that ammonium nitrate must not be brought into contact with "combustible or reducing agents."
UNIONS CRITICISE SAFETY LEVELS
French chemical unions have raised serious questions about safety provisions at AZF and other chemical plants. On Saturday, the country's environment minister said on TV that he would be consulting the unions and others about tightening up industrial safety regulations.
Safety measures at the AZF plant are thought to have been subcontracted to other firms, the French chemical workers' union Fédéchimie CGTFO said in a press release on Friday.
Fédéchimie said that its reps at AZF had "difficulties" in "obtaining the maintenance of safety." Without wishing to prejudge the causes of the explosion, the union "once again alerts the heads of industry and the public authorities to their responsibility to ensure maximum safety for their personnel and for the surrounding population, without systematically racing to compete or opting for profitability at all costs."
The union expressed its compassion to the families of the victims.
The French chemical workers' union FCE-CFDT said the disaster "again underlines ... the absolute necessity of handling chemical risks better. The European White Paper currently being drawn up, which aims to catalogue all chemicals in order to identify and control their risks, is a step forward in that direction. The FCE-CFDT, which totally supports this programme, regrets that European chemical employers, including the UIC in France, are, on the contrary, lobbying to limit the scope of this text and to delay its implementation."
The union also insisted on an investigation to see if the tragedy "is not the result of the widespread policy of cutting costs" in the chemical industry.
Expressing its sympathy and support for the victims and their families, the FCE-CFDT drew attention to "the irresponsibility of the authorities who have allowed urban development around such industrial sites. The FCE-CFDT's trade union teams recently once again alerted the public authorities and managements to this phenomenon and called for measures to be taken."
TotalFinaElf announced on Saturday that it had set aside 10 million French francs (about 1.52 million Euro or 1.39 million US dollars) to "contribute to the rescue work and urgent assistance to the victims." The French state and the city of Toulouse have each pledged a further 10 million.
FCE-CFDT and Fédéchimie are affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).
In messages to Fédéchimie General Secretary Michel Decayeux and FCE-CFDT General Secretary Jacques Kheliff on Friday, the ICEM's General Secretary Fred Higgs expressed the international's shock and sorrow over the disaster. On behalf of ICEM-affiliated workers worldwide, Higgs pledged full support and solidarity to the French chemical workers