A suspicious odour was reported at a research institute. All 44 employees were evacuated to the assembly point. Some complained of stinging eyes. Two were taken to hospital. The premises were ventilated.

The odour came from a nearby road tanker and container cleaning company. That day, a tank that had contained isopropyl alcohol (a disinfectant) arrived at the site and was cleaned. The carrier failed to provide the MSDS for the substance when delivering the tank. The employee in charge of the cleaning said that pungent odours were obvious on the site during cleaning. The operator subsequently prohibited tanks containing this substance from being cleaned on the site.

The inspection authorities for classified facilities went to the site and realised that the workers were insufficiently informed of the risks posed by the substances in the tanks and containers. Indeed, the site did not systematically request that carriers provide MSDSs when delivering tanks.

In addition, a few days earlier, the inspection authorities had received complaints from local residents about noise (engine noise, high-pressure jets inside the tanks, etc.) and unpleasant odours (clouds of steam wafting into the air during washing operations, emissions from the water treatment plant’s settling tanks). Significant and systematic deviations from various emission thresholds authorised for the site’s effluents (flow rate, TSS, COD, BOD5, metals) were also noted.

The operator was ordered to justify the adequacy of the systems for capturing emissions from the air and to implement measures to reduce these various types of pollution.