Cleaning companies that clean tankers for chemicals do not have a good picture of the risks of their work and have to train their employees better on rare and dangerous cleaning. The Dutch Safety Board (OVV) judges this on Tuesday in a report. The reason for the investigation is a serious incident at tank cleaner Gentenaar Cleaning in Moerdijk in Noord-Brabant in November 2022, when a cloud of poisonous acids was released and eleven people were injured.
The central problem, according to the OVV, is that safe cleaning depends too much on ‘the memory and behavior’ of the cleaners themselves. Tank cleaners train their staff on common cleaning, but not on the rarer jobs. While in some cases they are more dangerous, OVV vice-president Erica Bakkum says NRC. “That is why we call on the entire sector of tank cleaning companies to better take care of employees, so that they can perform their work safely.”
Especially with severe chemical reactions, the dangers are great. This is the case, for example, when cleaning tank containers with which Fosfortrichloride was transported, such as in Moerdijk. This substance reacts so violently to water – which is used by the cleaners to clean – that a serious incident can also take place with “a small amount of cargo residues.” When phosfortrichloride comes into contact with water, very toxic gases arise.
Hydrochloric
That is exactly what happened on November 23, 2022 at Gentenaar Cleaning in Moerdijk. When an employee cleaned a steel tank that morning, large clouds of toxic hydrochloric acid escaped. This substance eats in the skin, damages eyes and causes severe burns and sometimes even deadly pneummers. During the cleaning, the employee did not wear safety glasses or mask.
Due to the wind, the cloud with poisonous fabrics also reached the site of the adjacent Stolthaven Terminals. A total of eleven people were injured, one of whom were so serious that he could only work again after sixteen months.
The OVV is an independent administrative body that, after disasters and major accidents, investigates the causes and consequences of the incident. The Dutch Safety Board cannot impose sanctions, but keeps an eye on or recommendations. If this does not happen, a note will be made and published online.
Gentenaar Cleaning has since stopped cleaning tank containers with remains of Fosfortrichloride. But the risks remain present, says the OVV, even when cleaning tank containers with other hazardous substances.
That is why the research council wants the tank cleaning industry to improve its working safety. The working environment must be safer within the entire industry, says Bakkum. “A new employee now learns from the more experienced employee. But there must be real agreements, work instructions and clear regulations. If this tank will soon explode, what should we do? Those kinds of risks must be discussed.”
Regulations not followed
Tank cleaners clean tankers from chemical companies and clean up remaining chemical waste. This sector, also known as the ‘dishwasher of the chemical industry’, works with large quantities of hazardous substances. The risks for labor, local residents and the environment are high.
NRC conducted research into tank cleaning in the Netherlands in 2024 and discovered that several serious accidents have taken place with chemical substances in recent years. Employees without adequate protection also appeared to be exposed to dangerous, carcinogenic substances.
But the sector prefers to keep these incidents – with the risk of employees and local residents – out of sight. None of the 27 tank cleaning companies adhered to the regulations that should protect staff against these and other hazardous substances, the Labor Inspectorate discovered in 2022.
In addition to the risks for labor and local residents, tank cleaning is a great danger to the environment, discovered NRC. Thousands of liters of liters chemicals discharge in the sewer every day. Although these chemicals contain dozens of very harmful substances that can hardly be purified from water, these substances are considered ‘least harmful’ by the trade association or the companies themselves. This allowed them to discharge the chemicals – dozens to hundreds of liters per tank truck – in the sewer, after which they end up in the Maas, the Rhine and other surface waters from which drinking water is extracted.