Kazincbarcika, Hungary - Isocyanates producer Wanhua-BorsodChem demonstrated the high-calibre equipment, capabilities and skills of its onsite emergency response team at its plant in Kazincbarcika, North-East Hungary recently.
This simulation exercise was organised as part of a series for the member companies of ISOPA, the European trade association for producers of diisocyanates and polyols, and showed Wanhua-BorsodChem's readiness to act professionally in case of an industrial accident, the company said.
The emergency response team simulated an accident where a tank container loaded with TDI (toluene diisocyanate) fell off a derailed railway flatcar, was damaged and leaked TDI, which is a dangerous chemical substance.
Wanhua-BorsodChem's fire-brigade team arrived at the scene and took command. The fire-fighters, all using protective breathing apparatus and chemical protection gear, cleaned up the spilt TDI with soak pads to prevent further spreading of the contamination. These absorbent materials also prevent evaporation of the contaminants. After stopping the leak, they placed the damaged container into a mobile container and towed it off the site. They then put the derailed flatcar back on the track and hauled it away.
In the exercise, Wanhua-BorsodChem said its emergency response team also deployed a recently purchased rail car mover, a road-rail vehicle, fitted with radio control. This enabled it to remove the damaged container with safety and relative ease. This was the first time in the history of ISOPA that an emergency response exercise had involved rail cars, said the company.
The exercise was attended by other members of ISOPA, including Bayer MaterialScience, Dow Chemical Co., BASF Polyurethanes, Huntsman Polyurethanes, Perstorp Group, Repsol and Shell Chemicals.
"Wanhua-BorsodChem has recently upgraded its logistics capabilities, which can also be used for emergency response purposes, with an investment of over Euro 842,000, most of which was used for the purchase of rail car mover road-rail vehicles" said Istvan Papp, director of logistics of Wanhua-BorsodChem.
"This successful exercise demonstrates the efficiency and top-quality equipment of Wanhua-BorsodChem's emergency response team" said Tibor Klement, director of environment health and safety of Wanhua-BorsodChem and he added "It also shows Wanhua-BorsodChem's commitment to care for the local community and environment in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County," he added.
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