The Public Assured of Safety from Toxic Residues at Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate

(08/05/2012)

The Pollution Control Department has raised public confidence by monitoring and measuring the existing toxins in the air around the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate in Rayong province. It has also announced that the toxins would not affect people living there. The explosion and fire, which occurred at Bangkok Synthetics Company (BST) in the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate on 5 May 2012, killed 11 people and injured more than 140 others. After the incident, the Director-General of Pollution Control Department, Wijarn Simachaya, told the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT) to control the area where the fire was extinguished and the drainage system to prevent leakage. He said that while up to 200 ppm was allowed at workplaces, the last measurement of air-quality after the explosion indicated that the particle level of toluene gases ranged from 0.1 to 0.4 ppm which is not high enough to cause breathing problems or skin irritation, and the gas is non-carcinogenic. The disaster caused concern among local residents about the quality of the emergency alarm and the chemicals they might still breath in. Therefore, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has set up a tripartite committee consisting of officials from IEAT, the Pollution Control Department under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and civil society organizations to monitor air quality around Map Ta Phut and renovate the safety system to prevent any future calamity. Prime Minister Yingluck asked the committee to improve an early-warning system for chemical accidents at the industrial estate. The panel will report to the prime minister every three months on the situation. She also told health officials to monitor the health of people living around the blast site and Map Ta Phut estate. Meanwhile, Industry Minister Pongsvas Svasti said that he had ordered a thorough check of security systems at all facilities in the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate, as well as the air quality. He noted that hydrocarbon in the air remained at normal levels, and no carcinogenic substances had been found, despite the leak of toluene, a feedstock for synthetic tyre production. The Industry Ministry will tighten the regulations on hazardous plants, particularly those involved with chemicals, to be inspected every three months for risky operations. Of the roughly 140,000 plants nationwide, about 3,000 were categorized as major hazardous operations. These plants, particularly large-scale operations, are the major targets of the proposed regulation requiring three-monthly inspections.