Explosion and Fire at Himeji Plant (#5)
NIPPON SHOKUBAI CO., LTD [Tokyo Stock Exchange – TOKSE:4114.T] (“NIPPON SHOKUBAI”) is deeply saddened by the loss of life resulting from the explosion and fire at the Himeji Plant on September 29 and extends its sincere condolences to family members. In addition, NIPPON SHOKUBAI extends its sincere apologies to the individuals who were injured by this accident and to the enormous problems this incident caused for people living near the plant and to other people associated with this incident.
Today NIPPON SHOKUBAI reported about the accident at the meeting of the disaster management council of Hyogo Prefecture.
Including the above mentioned report, currently available information as of 14:00 October 9 is as follows;
1. Address and facilities involved in the accident
Acrylic acid-tank, NIPPON SHOKUBAI Himeji Plant
992-1 Aza-Nishioki, Okihama, Aboshi-ku, Himeji, Hyogo 671-1282, JAPAN
2. Time line
It was announced that white mist of acrylic acid-mist was confirmed at 13:00 on September 29, and explosion and fire at acrylic acid-tank was at 14:40 on the day. But now an internal investigation is proceeding, and later the result of it will be reported.
22:36, September 29 Fire under control
15:30, September 30 Fire extinguished
3. Impact of the accident
＊Casualties/Injured
The dead: 1 person (1 firefighter)
The serious injured: 5 persons (2 firefighters, 3 employees)
The moderate injured: 12 persons (7 firefighters, 1 police, 4 employees)
The mild injured: 19 persons (15 firefighters, 1 police, 3 employees)
＊Damage to facilities
Reference: “Remarks Concerning Media Reports of Expected Cost of Damage Caused by Explosion and Fire at Himeji Plant, announced on October 2, 2012”
“Without taking into consideration any offsetting insurance payments, if all production facilities at the Himeji Plant suspend operations, the opportunity loss will be approximately 150 million yen per day (about 4.5 billion yen per month). We have not yet determined the cost of repairing damaged facilities, but estimate this cost at about 5 billion yen.”
4. Impact to the outside of Himeji Plant
As the waste water outlets are closed, at this moment there is no report of leakage of hazardous materials.
5. Status of operations
Operations at all facilities in Himeji Plant are suspended at this moment.
6. Impact on product supply
Unknown at this moment
7. Financial impact
At this moment, it is very difficult to estimate the financial impact of the accident to this fiscal year, and will immediately report if any major impact will be anticipated.
8. Causes/Preventive measures
Causes of the accident are under investigation by authorities.
NIPPON SHOKUBAI formed task forces and does its best to investigate causes of the accident. On October 5, NIPPON SHOKUBAI established an accident investigation committee with members of the academia and external specialists to investigate causes of the accident.
NIPPON SHOKUBAI will apply appropriate preventive measures as soon as the causes of the accident will be clarified.
Contact
Investor & Public Relations Dept.,
NIPPON SHOKUBAI CO., LTD.
TEL: +81-3-3506-7477
E-mail: shokubai@n.shokubai.co.jp