Explosion and Fire at Himeji Plant (#11)
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 the neighborhood of the plant and to other people associated with this incident.
NIPPON SHOKUBAI does its best to investigate causes of the accident with an Accident Investigation Committee with members of the academia and external specialists, and with an internal Safe Production Technology Division.
Available information as of December 28 is as follows;
1. Address and facilities
Acrylic acid-tank, NIPPON SHOKUBAI Himeji Plant
992-1 Aza-Nishioki, Okihama, Aboshi-ku, Himeji, Hyogo 671-1282, JAPAN
2. Time line
As a result of re-examination, time line is as follows;
September 29
ca.13:20 Confirmed white mist of acrylic acid-mist
ca.13:48–49 Call the fire department
ca.14:35 Explosion and fire at acrylic acid-tank
22:36 Fire under control
September 30
15:30 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: 13 persons (8 firefighters, 1 police, 4 employees)
The mild injured: 18 persons (14 firefighters, 1 police, 3 employees)
Total: 37 persons
*Damage to facilities
Acrylic acid-tank, concerned, was badly damaged.
Surrounding facilities, racks, pipes, cables and so on are damaged.
4. Status of operations
NIPPON SHOKUBAI had received orders to suspend operation of the facilities of hazardous substances from the authority, and then received some lift of restrictions for some part of facilities in the plant. With the lift of restrictions, taking care of the plant’s safety, NIPPON SHOKUBAI proceeds to re-start the operation of the production facilities for the products not derived from acrylic acid in order.
At this time, the following products’ production facilities are in operation;
The products marked "*" are added after the last report.
Functional Chemicals
– Polymer for concrete admixture (AQUALOC, powder type)
* N-phenylmaleimide (IMILEX-P)
* Oxazoline-functional polymer (EPOCROS)
– Acrylic resins for paints and adhesives produced by Nippon Polymer Industries Co., Ltd., next to the NIPPON SHOKUBAI Himeji Plant
– Acrylic resins for optical materials (ACRYVIEWA)
– Resist polymers for color filter (ACRYCURE)
– Spherical fine particles (EPOSTAR)
* Silica particles (SEAHOSTAR)
* VEEA (UV/EB curable materials)
Environment & Catalysts
– Automobile catalysts
– De-NOx catalysts
– Dioxins decomposition catalysts
– Catalysts for catalytic wet oxidation wastewater treatment
5. Causes/Preventive measures
Causes of the accident are under investigation by authorities.
NIPPON SHOKUBAI does its best to investigate causes of the accident under the organization as follows;
*An Accident Investigation Committee, established on October 5
< academia and external specialists>
Masamitsu Tamura
Chairman of the Committee
Emeritus Professor, The University of Tokyo
Yasukazu Arai
Former Managing Director, The High Pressure Gas Safety Institute of Japan
Mitsuo Koshi
Research Professor, Institute of Engineering Innovation, School of Engineering,
The University of Tokyo
Masayoshi Nakamura
Professor, The Graduate School of Technology Management,
Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
<NIPPON SHOKUBAI>
Yosuke Ogata
Representative Member of the Board, Senior Managing Executive Officer
Masao Kitano
Director, Safe Production Technology Division ,
President, Nisshoku Butsuryu Co., Ltd.
Hiroya Kobayashi
Director, Responsible Care Division
* An Internal Safe Production Technology Division, established on October 17
Meeting held
#1 October 23, 2012
#2 November 15, 2012
#3 December 4, 2012
#4 December 25, 2012
The Accident Investigation Committee held the above mentioned four meetings, and obtained certain results of direct causes of the accident and preventive measures. As a result of it, NIPPON SHOKUBAI will have a press conference in the near future.
An outline of the conference will be informed as soon as it is decided.
Contact
Investor & Public Relations Dept.,
NIPPON SHOKUBAI CO., LTD.
TEL: +81-3-3506-7477 E-mail: shokubai@n.shokubai.co.jp