A Kooragang business has been fined thousands of dollars by the state’s environment watchdog over a gas leak which left a worker hospitalised earlier this year.
The ammonia leak occurred at Orica on February 21, when one of ten vapour detectors were activated in the immediate vicinity, which the company didn’t immediately report to the Environment Protection Authority as they believed it was contained.
While the EPA is satisfied the incident was localised, it has fined Orica $8,000 for delaying notifying them until two days later.
EPA Director, Metro North Operations, David Gathercole says he is disappointed in the decision to delay reporting the serious incident.
“We’re disappointed by Orica’s delay in notifying the EPA of an incident in February at their Kooragang Island plant where a worker was exposed to ammonia gas and hospitalised for a number of days.
“This was a serious incident and we expect far better processes by Orica when it comes to their reporting obligations.
“We’ve issued Orica a $8,000 penalty infringement notice as they did not report the incident to the EPA until two days after it took place.
“The protection of people and the environment should be a top priority for all industries and as such we will always we’ll take regulatory action against those who fail to meet their statutory and licencing obligations,” Mr Gathercole said.