Two workers have been confirmed dead after an explosion at Chempark Leverkusen in Germany at around 09.40 on 27 July and a subsequent fire in the tank farm of the Bürrig disposal centre that sent a blanket of smoke across the city and was heard 40 kilometres away.
A loud explosion took place at FAR Chemicals’ site at Palm Bay, Florida, on the morning of 8 September, which witnesses compared to a sonic boom. Although there were no injuries, this has led to renewed controversy about the site, where the city rezoned the area for housing earlier this year in the teeth of warnings from the company itself.
A blast that occurred in a boiler of agrochemicals company Yashashvi Rasayan’s factory at the Dahej Special Economic Zone-1 in Gujarat state on 3 June has caused ten deaths and over 70 injuries to date. All are believed to be contract workers at the site, mainly migrants from other regions of India. Eight were killed immediately and two have since died.
Four employees of AB Specialty Silicones were killed in a “massive explosion” and a subsequent fire that almost completely destroyed its facility in Waukegan, Illinois, about 80 km north of Chicago, on 3 May. The precise cause of the explosion was still unknown as SCM went to press but it is known that it took place in the building where silicone was produced and was accidental.
