Today Nicolas Lemaire wants to diversifyThe fight against climate change finally growingKookai therefore the antiDim Dim seduced by womenAged seventyeight the person concerned provides have everything preparedFor the moment there has not yet was defects700 education nationale and 4400 to the defenceOn the week this is almost the status quoA distribution of tasks dictated by the operating costs The low cost pressure reinforces the need to adaptON extend their influence on the continentAlmost eight years after the disaster which killed 31 people in its factory AZF, near Toulouse, Total is in first line following the deadly explosion which took place Wednesday on its platform petrochemical of Carling, Moselle. The final balance sheet reports of two dead. The six injured are now out of danger, according to the group.
Yesterday, the Labour Minister, Xavier Darcos, asked that "all the light be made" on the explosion and that "all to be lessons in terms of prevention." On-site, unions fear for the sustainability of the site (see below). Return on an accident that raises many questions.
l what happened exactly
Wednesday, 3: 15 pm, two people died and six others wounded during an operation of the plant of Carling steamcracker to restart. This facility, which is used to produce petrochemical bases (ethylene and propylene), had been arrested Monday to prevent toutincident électriquelors of severe thunderstorms, according to Total. On its reboot a unit for the production of steam, the superheater, reportedly exploded following an accumulation of gas produced "for still unknown reasons".
l was negligent
Restarting the steamcracker was conducted "unit by unit, to all service gradually, verify that it works well and go to the following unit", said yesterday on RTL Jean-Marc Jaubert, Director of Total security. It excludes that a too rapid restart of facilities is the cause of the accident. It is, among other things, that will determine judicial police investigation, which has just opened. This type of operation is in any case carefully framed by a prefectoral order of December 2001.
is l the Carling website secure
The Carling steamcracker had its "General judgment" in October 2007, at the end of which he was able to restart for six years. In a security audit conducted last year by SSRIS, the site has received 8 out of 10 notes, "one of the best in the sector", according to a spokesman. Inspected a dozen times a year, this facility ranked Seveso 2 receives an average of a formal annual notice, according to Alain Liger, Director of the Lorraine Drire. It prescribed emergency measures to protect the environment. "It cannot be said that Total Petrochemicals is less effort than others", he said.
l Total is more often affected than others
This is the question posed to some, less than eight years after the AZF disaster. For Christophe Léguevaques, counsel for the civil parties to the trial of the Toulouse plant, the answer is Yes. According to him, Total found 79 fatalities between 2001 and 2006, against 65 for BP, Exxon 47 and 22 for Shell. In January, an employee of its refinery in La mede (Bouches) was found dead after having inhaled hydrogen sulfide. A few days later, an explosion in a workshop for maintenance at Mardyck (North) was dead and 5 wounded.
l what are the most dangerous sectors
According to figures from the Ministry of the environment, there were 985 accidents involving facilities classified in 2007, including 13 deaths. Chemical accidents represent only 44.5 of the impacts on the environment, coking and refining 21. According to sickness insurance, accidents at work statistics have killed 569 people in France last year, a total of about 19 million of private sector employees. With 155 deaths in 2008, the building and public works pay the heaviest price, followed by the sectors of transport and energy (124) and metallurgy (60).
