In the aftermath of yesterday’s devastating explosion that ripped through a warehouse at the Port of Beirut, security measures at storage facilities are again in the spotlight.
Details of the incident are still coming through and at last count it was estimated that more than 80 people had died in the blast.
The injury count this morning was said to be around 4000 and authorities have reported that public health facilities in Lebanon’s capital are completely overwhelmed. They have requested that where possible people should avoid flocking to the city’s hospitals.
In the meantime varying reports are filtering through about what could have caused the blast.
Initially news channels reported that it had stemmed from a fire that had broken out in a warehouse storing firecrackers.
Video content distributed via social media platforms and recorded from both the land and sea-side of the explosion also clearly shows thick smoke pluming high above the port before a massive fireball goes off, sending a shock wave across the city of four million people.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, has since said that 2 750 metric tonnes of ammonium nitrate, typically used as an agricultural fertiliser, had been kept in a nearby warehouse for some six years without proper security.
It is believed that the initial firecracker blaze could eventually have caused enough heat to ignite the ammonium nitrate.
According to additional speculation explosive devices were being kept in storage in the immediate area of the explosion.
A former CIA operative, Robert Baer, has since said that while ammonium nitrate was present, it was unlikely that it was responsible for such an immense explosion.
It’s a view shared by Martin Bailey, warehouse expert from Industrial Logistics Systems (ILS).
The ILS chairman told Freight News that, from a preventative point of view, 50% of the time you would find that warehouse fires were caused by staff.
“It may be because of salaries, not getting increases, people getting fired now they’re cross with the boss – that sort of thing. How do you prevent this kind of sabotage? It’s almost impossible.”
He added that for the most part sprinkler systems should douse a fire before it can trigger the kind of calamity that has befallen Beirut.
“Be that as it may, if dangerous goods were kept at the port, such as firecrackers or ammonium nitrate, it should really be kept in a bunker.”
And although sprinklers were generally effective in putting out fires, there were 100 reasons why they often didn’t work, he said.
“Valves leak and are not fixed or replaced, and pump-house batteries run flat and nothing is done about it. Preventative measures generally speaking are a grudge purchase. They add no profit to your bottom line but insurance still demands it.”
In this respect South Africa was a world leader in high warehouse safety standards, Bailey said.
“Generally speaking we’re as good as - if not better - than anywhere else in the world. We are controlled by the Automatic Sprinkler Inspection Bureau (Asib) and they are generally very precise about sustaining safety standards.”
He added that although there was a lot of criticism from industry about the bureau, warehouses in South Africa should be secure if they played by the rules.
“In the US warehouses often connect their sprinkler to the mains, that sort of thing. Locally Asib insists that a tank be used. It’s the sort of thing that ensures we have a high standard of sprinkler safety.”
WATCH: https://tinyurl.com/y696623g Video courtesy of The Guardian.