At around 8:00 a.m., a gas release occurred at a metallurgical plant when sulphuric acid was mistakenly transferred into a 300 l tank of sodium hypochlorite. Twenty-one of the plant’s employees and eight other workers at an adjacent company were slightly poisoned by the gas. A 100 m cordon was set up. Employees dumped 500 l of water to control the reaction. Work to empty the tank ended at 2:30 p.m. A specialist company took care of the effluent. Material damage and operating losses were estimated at €42,500.

While the containers were being prepared for delivery by the subcontractor, a container of sulphuric acid was mistakenly loaded with the containers of sodium hypochlorite expected by the operator. When the containers were unloaded at the operator’s site, 100 l of the container of sulphuric acid was transferred to a tank containing 100 l of sodium hypochlorite. The mistake made during the order picking process was due to the proximity and lack of physical separations between the various delivery rounds being prepared in the order picking area. In addition, the driver did not perform any checks when loading the order and the operator did not carry out any delivery checks. Contrary to ADR regulations, the driver, a subcontractor working for the order picking warehouse, did not check the information on the containers before transporting them.

The order picking warehouse plans to set up a physical separation or visual differentiation in the order picking area between every two rounds that are scheduled on the same day. It reminded all its employees of the checklist for order picking operations. The subcontractor reminded its drivers of the procedure for checking delivery notes against labels on containers whose contents are to be transferred and customers’ tanks. This check is also included in the safety protocol sent to recipients of the products.