Chemical incidents in 1990

February	Petroleum Refineries Australia. Worker killed by explosion.
"	Spilled chemicals from Hoescht reacted with water and moisture in the atmosphere to form hydrogen chloride and hydrochloric acid.
March	Air Pollution incident at Altona Petrochemical Company
April	Air Pollution incident at Altona Petrochemical Company. A pressure tower failure caused discharge of 15 tonnes of ethylene, propylene, benzene and butadeine, causing sore eyes, throats, headaches to students and staff at the three nearby schools. The leak lasted half an hour and the company did not contact local schools or council.
"	South Dynon V Line Depot. Leak of Sodium Hydro Sulphate from a railway container. Workers hospitalised. 1300 residents evacuated from Footscray, Flemington and Kensington.
"	Chemplex. West Footscray. Leak of Formaldehyde (causes damage to eyes and skin, and is carcinogenic)
"	South Dynon V Line Depot. Leak of Sodium Ethanyl Xanthate from a railway container.
May	Nufarm, Laverton North. Greenpeace finds discharge of effluent into the sewerage system containing unacceptable levels of dioxins and furans at 100 million times greater than US standards allow.
"	Alsco Linen factory, Whitehall Street. Unknown toxic gas taken in through factory air conditioning system. Later found to be trichloro-ethylene.17 workers taken to hospital.
"	Willow Ware factory. Marks Street Kensington. Fire 100 metres away from a 20 storey Ministry of Housing estate. No evacuation or displan enacted (why not ?).
"	Hoescht releases 9 tonnes of propylene gas into the atmosphere. Could have been a major explosion. Also during same accident 2-3 tonnes of liquid solvent (nonane) discharged into storm water drain.
June	Petroleum Refineries Australia, Altona. 1000 litres of crude oil spilt from a pipe and ignited, taking five MFB units 20 minutes to contain it.
"	Flemington (Lambert Street). Fire Rubber Clove Factory. Potential for hazardous fumes.
"	Kensington Road, Kensington. Petrol tanker overturns spilling petrol onto the road
July	ICI fined for breaching its formaldehyde licence with releases of formaldehyde at eight times EPA levels
"	Broadford. Truck driver booked for carrying food and poisonous chemicals together.
"	Leak of Aluminium Powder. Dynon Road V/Line Depot-No residents evacuated.
"	Fire Wool Storage in Alfred Street Kensington. Very Spectacular. No fumes reported by the Fire Brigade.
"	Willow Ware in Lambert Street Flemington & Kittle Head Co, Edward St Kensington Raided by Government Task force. Willow ware already caught on fire and Kittle head was in the process of moving - government just picking on the easy obvious sites.
August	Diesel spill at Hoescht.
September	Fantastic Kitchen Cabinets Factory. Kensington Rd. Fire resulting in acrid smoke. Apparently no chemicals involved but some manufacturing glues stored on property. Smoke reported to have still been around 7 hours after the fire.
"	Study on Chemical contamination of Commonwealth Explosives Factory in Albion shows that 150, 000 cubic meters are contaminated with asbestos, nitrates dioxins and other compounds which are considered dangerous to humans and the environment.
October	Spill of ethyl benzene at Dow. Maintenance workers working on the tank sent home.
November	Leak of toxic fumes in the automotive paint section at Taubmans in Sunshine. Workers were evacuated.
"	A fire starts in a rubbish dumpmaster of A & T Butlers Lambeth Street Kensington. Because the dumpmaster was under cover, there was a danger of surrounding structures catching fire. When the fire brigade arrived and tried to put out the fire, water increased the intensity of the blaze, suggesting that hazardous chemicals were involved. The fire brigade resorted to using extinguishers which eventually put out the fire with foam.
December	100's of litres of jet fuel spilled at Petroleum Refineries Australia
"	100 litres of solvent spilled at Hoescht
"	700 litres of acrylic acid spilled at BASF
"	Altona Petrochemical Company discharges highly odourous ethyl mercapatan. Many residents complain.