Chemical incidents in 1994

February	Hoescht which recently won an award for environmental protection leaked 10-15 thousand litres of Aluminium Akyl Chloride into bunding surrounding a tank at 3am. The EPA emergency response unit attended. (Source: ABC Radio, Greenpeace and EPA).
May	Accident at Exelpet (Source: Colleen)
"	Spill at Hoescht's Altona plant. The incident took place in an isolated area of the polymerisation plant and occured when excess pressure developed in a small catalyst decomposer vessel during a routine plant operation. A media statement from Hoescht said that the bolts on the vessel fractured causing the top to break away from the base. MFB and the EPA attended. (Source: Western Independent, 24 May, 1994)
June	Accident at Brooklyn. Gas leak (source ABC radio)
"	Leak of hydrochloric vapour at Huntsman Chemicals in West Footscray. Somerville Rd was closed for 20 minutes after the leak and residents downwind were told to stay in doors until the vapor was blown away. John Power, the plant's operation manager, said 'condensation in a styrene monomer-making process caused the leak at 9am on Friday.' He said 'he did not know how much vapour had escaped, but he said it formed a small 'fog' in the 12 minutes before the leak was stopped'. An EPA spokesperson described the gas as 'pretty nasty'. It can cause severe irritation of the eyes, nose and throat during brief exposure.' (Source: Western Times 6 July 1994)
September	Leak of 2500 litres cracked Naptha at Mobil Refinery Millers rd Altona. Delay of 18 hours before MFB was notified. According to the MFB, the notification period was contrary to the guidelines for incident reporting protocol. (Source MFB Internal Memo 12 September 94)
"	Explosion at Shell refinery in Geelong 'ripped through the propylene plant. The fireball was a metre wide. One man died and another was injured, suffering serious burns to 30 per cent of his body. Fire crews took about 40 minutes to control the blaze. The CFA reported that the substance involved in the explosion was triethyl aluminium which can spontaneously ignite and react with water. (Source: The Age, 14 September, p. 3)
December	Firefighters called to Swanson Dock at 8am faced a 40 metre column of toxic smoke billowing from a container partly loaded with drums of yellow phosphorous. The MFB said several drums had fractured during transport or unloading. Police evacuated workers from the surrounding docklands and railyards until the fire was contained. Three police officers were taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital with throat, skin and eye irritations. Phosphorous is highly flammable and spontaneously combusts in moist air. Weather conditions were perfect for a worst case scenario. (source: The Age, 2 January 1995, p. 4)