§ Mr. McWilliamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will make a statement on the report by the Environment Agency concerning the release of chlorine gas by Durham Chemicals in Birtley on 17 April; [29585]
(2) if he will make a statement regarding his power to insist that where poison gas is released, the local authorities environmental health department and local health authority must be informed, with special reference to the incident at Durham Chemicals on 17 April; [29586]
(3) if he will give an instruction to the director of the Environment Agency to ensure that all companies manufacturing hazardous chemicals in the United Kingdom are aware of their duty to report immediately a leak of those chemicals to the Environment Agency and to the local authority environmental health committee. [29590]
§ Mr. ClappisonThe Environment Agency learnt on 24 April that there had been an unauthorised release of chlorine gas from the Durham Chemicals process. The agency promptly investigated the incident, which had occurred on 17 April, and as a result of its findings, issued an enforcement notice to Harcros Chemical UK Ltd. the operator of the process, on 2 May. The notice states that conditions of the company's integrated pollution control—IPC—authorisation were breached by the operator's failure to report the release to the agency within 24 hours of its occurrence, the failure to provide adequate supervision of staff and the failure to follow written operating instructions. There was a regrettable delay in discussing the incident with officers of Gateshead metropolitan borough council, but the agency is now in discussion with both officers and councillors, and with the Health and Safety Executive, which regulates the site under the Control of Industrial Major Accident Hazards Regulations 1984. The agency is reviewing the options for further enforcement, including prosecution.
The Environment Agency routinely includes in its IPC authorisations a condition requiring operators to report any unauthorised release within 24 hours of its occurrence. The Secretary of State considers that such conditions are essential. In the event of any serious incident at an IPC process which is likely to give rise to significant local public concern, he would also expect that the agency would inform interested bodies such as the local authority and, where there are implications for public health, the local health authority.