On 25 June 2021 the State Secretary of Infrastructure and Water Management presented the State of Safety for Brzo companies 2020 presented to the Lower House of the States General.
In 2020, 407 Brzo companies were active in the Netherlands. The State of Safety provides a picture of the efforts and findings of both the supervisors via the BRZO+ monitoring and of major risk companies via the annual report by Veiligheid Voorop. Since January 2011, this State of Safety has been presented to the Dutch Lower House every year.
The main findings were:
Safety performance of Brzo companies:
- The number of major accidents, reports of unusual occurrences and process safety events reported by industry for Brzo companies fluctuates somewhat and shows no major improvements or deterioration compared to previous years.
- In 2020, there were no major accidents reported to the European Commission (MARS notifications), in contrast to 2019 with 3 notifications.
- Report from Veiligheid Voorop shows a decrease in the number of process safety events compared to 2019. The indicator for incidents resulting in personal injury and absenteeism also shows a reduction.
- In 2020, a total of 1836 unusual occurrences were recorded by the Netherlands Environment and Transport Inspectorate. The majority of the unusual occurrences concerned leaks or emissions to air, soil or surface water (56%), flaring (13%), (un)planned plant shutdowns/maintenance (10%) and fire (7%). In 2020, 45% of Brzo companies reported an unusual occurrence compared to 51% in 2019. According to the competent authority, the number of companies that did not report is still too low and the quality of the reports is also insufficient.
Status of safety management systems in Brzo companies
- In total, 384 out of 407 Brzo companies were inspected (94%) by the competent authority. The percentage of Brzo companies that committed a violation in 2020 (62%) is 5% lower than in 2019 (67%).
- The number of offences has decreased by over 6% from 813 in 2019 to 761 in 2020. The decrease can be seen in the categories of medium (from 217 to 178) and serious violations (from eight to three). Of all violations detected, 76% were minor violations.
- In 77% of the companies inspected, no (146) or only minor (152) violations were found.
- Category 2 violations were found in 22% of the companies inspected (83).
- At 1% of the companies (3), at least category 1 (serious) violations were found. These three serious violations were found in the areas of Measures, Explosion Safety and Wabo/Environment. Immediate action was taken to remove the immediate danger posed by these violations.
- In relation to the number of assessments, most violations were found in the areas of Explosion Safety and Measures (to prevent major accidents).
- Of the 62 inspections carried out into control measures against overfilling storage tanks (PGS 29), shortcomings were found at fifteen companies. Following enforcement, the necessary improvement measures were taken at 10 companies.
- Reports from Veiligheid Voorop shows positive increases compared to 2019: the affiliation rate with Veiligheid Voorop, the number of Brzo sites that participated in the reporting, engaged leadership, the number of Self Assessment Questionnaires performed, the number of sites that check their own Safety Management System and the number of companies that use a Supplier Assessment System.
The State of Safety lists a number of policy intentions based on the reported results, including an amendment to the Working Conditions Act with regard to overfill protection and initiatives to improve the reporting of unusual occurrences.
