/ 27 January 2005

Solidarity to help probe latest Sasol accident

Trade union Solidarity said on Thursday afternoon, after an emergency meeting with oil and chemicals group Sasol, that it has agreed to be part of the internal investigation following the explosion at Sasol’s Natref plant in Sasolburg on Wednesday.

Sasol spokesperson Johann van Rheede said that both Solidarity and the South African Chemical Workers’ Union will be participating in the preliminary investigation into the incident.

Seventeen people were injured in the explosion, Solidarity said, while Sasol put the number of people injured at 14.

It was also agreed that Solidarity’s senior management will meet with the management of the Sasol group within one week to address the predilection for accidents that has become apparent in Sasol during the past year, and to find a solution to this problem, Solidarity spokesperson Dirk Hermann said.

“We are extremely concerned about the current accident trend in Sasol,” Hermann said.

There have been five accidents at Sasol plants in South Africa since June last year.

On June 21 2004, a contractor was killed and eight people were injured when a tank exploded at the Phenosolvan plant, in Secunda.

Shortly afterwards, on July 1, a contractor was killed in a gas explosion at Sasol’s Middelbult coal mine.

In September last year, 10 people died and 369 were injured in an explosion at the company’s ethylene plant in Secunda, Mpumalanga.

On November 30, two people were killed in a fire at the Natref plant in Sasolburg. Several people inhaled harmful gas during this accident.

“The factual similarities between the September explosion and the one that took place yesterday [Wednesday] are highly disturbing. In both instances, contractors were doing maintenance work on pipes and this gave rise to gas leaks.

“The part played by contractors in most of the accidents gives us cause for concern and this issue will certainly be discussed at the high-level meeting.

“Other matters to be discussed relate to the workload of Sasol workers and the fact that the workload leads to excessive overtime being worked. We believe that many Sasol workers are overworked and morale is low,” Hermann said.

Hermann added that the trade union is cautiously optimistic about finding a solution to the accident trend at Sasol. — I-Net Bridge