At its Kralupy Refinery, Unipetrol carried out a regular emergency drill aimed at practising and testing the emergency plan. The exercise involved a simulated leak of hazardous substances which caused an unconscious state in two employees. An emergency committee was called; there was a fire brigade responding to the event and a part of the refinery was evacuated. The emergency was also reported to the competent authorities and institutions.
“This emergency and tactical exercise in the Kralupy Refinery has successfully tested the functionality of our emergency plan and the relating internal documents, in particular our preparedness and ability to quickly and effectively respond to an emergency. We put emphasis on the coordination of the responding units and awareness of the competent authorities,” says Jaroslav Hacko, Production Manager of Unipetrol’s refinery in Kralupy nad Vltavou.
Ten firefighters of the company’s internal fire brigade were involved in the exercise. Using extinguishing water from five sources, they limited the leak of hydrogen sulphide and hydrocarbons. They also closed the affected area in the refinery, evacuated people and were involved in the repair of the leaking technological equipment. Two employees hit by hydrogen sulphide were given first aid and referred to emergency services.
The emergency drill did not affect any area beyond the chemical site, nonetheless, representatives of all seven municipalities in its vicinity that are included in the emergency planning zone were notified about the drilled situation.
“This emergency exercise is only an imaginary tip of the iceberg because it is part of dozens of emergency drills carried out annually in individual operations. They include practicing emergency responses or disposals,” Jaroslav Hacko added.
The emergency also tested the correctness of several internal documents, including an internal emergency plan, a fire alarm guideline, a plan to deal with emergency and crisis situations, a fire evacuation plan as well as procedures to be followed when reporting and recordkeeping emergency leaks into the environment.