PRESS STATEMENT
BY UPL SOUTH AFRICA
16 February 2022
Cornubia arson attack: UPL-commissioned Airshed
report in context
On July 12th 2021 UPL-SA’s Cornubia Warehouse was set alight
during a violent arson attack when rioters and looters broke into the facility
during widespread, days-long unrest and a breakdown in the rule of law in South
Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng Provinces. The incident caused a fire at the
facility that burned for some eight days, and a chemical spill which impacted
the surrounding environment.
As a responsible agrichemical
supplier UPL immediately took the necessary steps to mitigate the impact of the
chemical spill that resulted from the warehouse being set alight. To date, UPL
has spent over R300 million doing so. These efforts have included the
appointment of numerous leading independent experts and specialists as well as
two spill response teams.
PRESS STATEMENT
BY UPL SOUTH AFRICA
16 February 2022
Cornubia arson attack: UPL-commissioned Airshed
report in context
On July 12th 2021 UPL-SA’s Cornubia Warehouse was set alight
during a violent arson attack when rioters and looters broke into the facility
during widespread, days-long unrest and a breakdown in the rule of law in South
Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng Provinces. The incident caused a fire at the
facility that burned for some eight days, and a chemical spill which impacted
the surrounding environment.
As a responsible agrichemical
supplier UPL immediately took the necessary steps to mitigate the impact of the
chemical spill that resulted from the warehouse being set alight. To date, UPL
has spent over R300 million doing so. These efforts have included the
appointment of numerous leading independent experts and specialists as well as
two spill response teams.
Apart from the immediate containment
and clean-up work, UPL needed to gain a full understanding of all the
effects of the incident so that appropriate interventions could be taken to
minimize and where necessary remediate those effects. The Airshed report that
has been referred to, forms part of this much broader effort which involves
assessing the impact of the incident on atmospheric conditions, land,
freshwater and marine resources, as well as human health, flora and fauna.
In order to understand the
atmospheric impacts of the fire UPL commissioned an atmospheric impact
assessment by Dr Lucian Burger of Airshed, a renowned South African
consultancy.
Airshed’s report was delivered to
the authorities in November 2021. It consists of a modelled analysis of the
phases and duration of the fire, the products that were stored in the Warehouse
at the date of the fire, meteorological conditions at the time, and other
relevant considerations.
It is important to note that the
report uses a number of assumptions, such as the heat of the fire, the volume
of various products that are likely to have combusted wholly or partially in
the fire and those that would have vaporised and been carried in the smoke
plume etc.
Using those parameters Airshed
constructed a number of predicted impact scenarios. Since measurements could
not be carried out during the course of the fire due to the threat of violence,
the atmospheric impact assessment utilised extensive conservative modelling –
in other words it predicted a worst-case scenario.
It did this for a very specific
reason: the report is intended to serve as a guide for a focussed
epidemiological study in the impacted areas identified in the report. In other
words, the report models the worst outcome with the ultimate aim of identifying
the areas in which humans may have been most impacted, which would then inform
the epidemiological study.
The last step in the process is to
conduct the epidemiological study itself. That will consist of detailed medical
testing of individuals within the predicted impact zones to determine whether
the chemicals of concern have had, or are in the future likely to have an
effect on human health. The results of that study will inform medical
interventions and monitoring into the future.
Although it is too early to reach
any firm conclusions, it appears from both the testing of first responders and
on-site personnel, as well as those who have attended the UPL established
occupational health clinic, that there are very few, if any, chronic health
impacts attributable to either the fire or the waterborne chemical spill.
Whether that will remain the case will only be known once the outcomes of the
epidemiological study are known.
Although UPL did not cause this
fire, it is committed to completing these processes in collaboration with the
authorities and in accordance with best international
practice.
All of these efforts are being undertaken
with the relevant South African government stakeholders, in an open and
transparent process. Regular reports on progress are being provided to them,
and an extensive rehabilitation and monitoring plan is in
process.
ENDS///
Please attribute quotes to Japhet Ncube,
spokesperson for UPL South Africa
Please note that UPL South Africa (Pty) ltd is the
correct name of the company. It is not United Phosphorus Ltd.
Media Enquiries:
Thabi Ndhlovu
061 993 6672
