20SHE%20report2007f

e u r o p e a n f e r t i l i z e r m a n u f a c t u r e r s a s s o c i a t i o n

EFMA

SAFETY

HEALTH

&

ENVIRONMENT REPORT

NOVEMBER 2007

NOVEMBER 2007

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Copyright 2007-EFMA

EUROPEAN FERTILIZER MANUFACTURERS’ ASSOCIATION

AVE. E. VAN NIEUWENHUYSE 4B-1160 BRUSSELS

BELGIUM

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CONTENTS

1

E F M A S A F E T Y H E A L T H A N D E N V I R O N M E N T R E P O R T

Introduction 2

EFMA’s Product Stewardship Programme 3

Safety 5

● EFMA’s Safety Survey in Production 6

● EFMA’s Incident Reporting 7

● EFMA’s Safety Seminar 8

● EFMA’s Guidance Documents 9

❍ Guidance for the Storage, Handling and Transportation of Solid Mineral Fertilizers 9

Health 10

● Chemical Policy 10

Environment 11

● EFMA’s Environmental Benchmark Survey in Production 12

● EFMA’s activities in Agriculture 16

❍ Producting Bio-Energys 16

❍ EFMA Involvement in Good Agricultural Practice 17

❍ Conference on Integrated Farm Management 18

List of EFMA publications 19

Prepared by EFMA

DISCLAIMER:The information and guidance provided in this document is given in good faith. EFMA, its members and staff accept

no liability for any loss or damage arising from the use of this guidance.

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INTRODUCTION

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This is the third publication of the EFMA Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) report. This report reviewsthe activities of EFMA and its members in the area of Product Stewardship, safety and environmentalperformance, activities related to the REACH Regulation, and activities for the promotion of good agriculturalpractices.

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EFMA’S PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP PROGRAMME

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EFMA’s Product Stewardship (PS) programme was officially launched in September 2003. It is mandatory forEFMA members to implement the programme. It covers the ‘life cycle’ of fertilizers, describing theresponsibilities of fertilizer companies for the safety, security, health and environmental aspects in the wholesupply chain from sourcing of raw materials, in production, storage and distribution, and for providing guidanceto farmers. The programme is available on a CD-ROM with guidance on how to implement PS in the company.It is also made publicly available on EFMA’s web page www.efma.org. In addition, an audit manual to facilitateself assessments has been made available for EFMA members. An audit is carried out by an independent thirdparty (SGS) every three years, to confirm the members’ adherence to the requirements of the programme. AllEFMA’s SHE activities form part of this PS concept.

The first audit of EFMA members was reported in 2005. The results were presented to the EFMA Board ofDirectors for approval. Those companies that were found to lag behind were audited again the following yearafter submitting an improvement plan. The next audit of all the members will take place in 2008.

In the reporting year 2006-2007 EFMA has updated the PS programme (version 1.3). Also, EFMA hascooperated with SGS to make the PS programme into a recognised standard in compliance with ISO Guide 65.

In preparation for the 2008 audit, EFMA has organised a training session for the Product Stewards of EFMAmember companies on the 25th of September, 2007.

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EFMA’s Product Stewardship Programme for Fertilizers is regularly updated and can be found on EFMA’swebsite www.efma.org.

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SAFETY

5


The safety of our employees, contractors and consumers gets our utmost attention. EFMA’s activities include:

• Safety targets for member companies

• Safety benchmarks

• Analysis of accidents and incidents

• Publication of Guidance Documents

• Annual safety seminars

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6


EFMA’S SAFETY SURVEY IN PRODUCTION

Note 1: The high figure in 2001 is the result of the Toulouse explosion but was not related to commercial grade fertilizer material.

Note 2: LTIR is defined as the number of injuries per million worked hours leading to the absence from work for 1 day or more.

Figure: LTIR trends of EFMA’s safety performance (reporting years 1997-2006) and targets for 2007.

The Lost Time Injury Rate (LTIR) is a good indicator for the safety performance in a company. In 1997 EFMAstarted to collect LTIR from member companies on a yearly basis. The target is to reduce the LTIR for employeesand contractors continuously and for this purpose, EFMA started to define target figures in 2006. The graphshows the EFMA average LTIR figures as trend lines from 1996 till the reporting year 2006.

Trend lines LTIR EFMA Average 1997-2006

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5

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25

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007Years

LT

IR

Employees

Contractor

CombinedDotted lines: target 2007

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EFMA’s INCIDENT REPORTING

EFMA members report occupational accidents, environmental incidents and process related accidents that occurin the fertilizer industry – in Europe and elsewhere. The information is stored in EFMA’s incident database. Thedatabase is regularly updated and contains more than 660 entries over a period of 91 years. The most recentversion of the database (10-02-1007) has been distributed to EFMA members.

The purpose of this database is to share information amongst EFMA members. New incidents are reported anddiscussed in EFMA’s Technical, Environment and Safety Committee (TESC) and in EFMA’s PermanentWorking Group on Product Safety and Transport (PWG). This enables the industry to share knowledge andlearn from past incidents. Selected topics are part of the annual EFMA Safety Seminar for a more detailedanalysis of the incidents.

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EFMA’S SAFETY SEMINAR

In April 2007 EFMA experts met in Bad Dürkheim (Germany) for the 10th annual Safety Seminar

The topic of the seminar was maintenance, major shut-downs, Safety Integrity Level (SIL), classification andcorrosion.

The list below shows the topics of the last ten Safety Seminars.

1997: Learning from incidents.

1998: Ammonia.

1999: Nitric acid.

2000: Ammonium nitrate.

2001: Safety management systems.

2003: Regulatory issues.

2004: EU legislation related to the Fertilizer Industry.

2005: Transport including loading and unloading.

2006: Incidents and lessons to be learned.

2007: Maintenance, major shut-downs, SIL criteria and corrosion

Participants at the EFMA 2007 Safety Seminar.

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EFMA’S GUIDANCE DOCUMENTS

One of the many activities of EFMA’s Technical, Environment and Safety Committee (TESC) is the establishingand issuing of industry guidance documents and easy-to-read instruction leaflets. These documents areconsidered to be the best practice standards for safe and environmentally correct operations. The documents aremade freely available on EFMA’s website www.efma.org for anyone interested.

In 2006-2007 the following document was issued:

Guidance for the Storage, Handling and Transportation of Solid Mineral Fertilizers


APRIL 2007

GUIDANCE FOR THE STORAGE, HANDLING ANDTRANSPORTATION OF SOLID MINERAL FERTILIZERS

The guidance is for use by manufacturers, importers, merchants, hauliers, farmers and everyone concerned withthe storage, handling and transportation of solid fertilizers. Its purpose is to promote safety and preserve thequality of fertilizers in storage, handling and transport; to safeguard the health of personnel and to avoid hazardsto the environment. The guidance is a revision of the former publication by APEA/IFA in 1992, Handbook forthe Safe Storage of Ammonium Nitrate Based Fertilizers. Besides up-dating the information given, EFMA hasenlarged the scope of the guidance. It now covers all main solid mineral fertilizers and also security related issues.It considers the environmental aspect in more detail. It suggests ways of good management with a list of basicgood practices and also recommends emergency actions and first aid procedures. It emphasises the sharing oflearning from accidents and recommends the reporting of accidents more widely throughout the industry tofacilitate this process.

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HEALTH

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We accept the responsibility to minimise health risks for our employees and our customers in the production,processing and handling of fertilizers.

We provide information and training for our employees regarding the safety of operations and any health hazardsassociated with raw materials, chemicals and finished products in the production process. We offer informationand training to our customers regarding safe handling and use of fertilizers.

All EFMA members issue safety data sheets. These are based on EFMA’s Guidance for the Compilation of SafetyData Sheets for Fertilizer Materials (1996; under revision).

CHEMICAL POLICY

In 2003 EFMA together with The Fertilizer Institute (TFI, USA) completed a research programme with the aimof gathering the toxicological data for 23 fertilizers and their intermediates. Two groups of fertilizers (ammoniagroup and phosphate group) were submitted for the approval of the physical-chemical and toxicological data atthe April 2007 meeting of the OECD member countries. The remaining nitrate and sulphate groups weresubmitted to the October 2007 meeting and all products were approved.

EFMA has initiated two Task Forces in the reporting year 2006-2007 to prepare EFMA member companies forREACH which came into force on 1st of June, 2007.

1) TF REACH/HPV

2) TF MSDS

The Task Force REACH is a discussion platform for questions/confusions that arise from REACH. The TF willalso prepare recommendations for joint EFMA activities such as further testing of a selection of commonproducts, quantifying exposures and formation of pre-consortia.

The Task Force MSDS will issue a revision of the EFMA 1996 Guidance for the Compilation of Safety DataSheets for Fertilizer Materials. This is necessary since new legislation (REACH, Global Harmonized System)demands that additional issues are covered.

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ENVIRONMENT

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Taking care of the environment means reducing the emissions associated with the production and use offertilizers, and using energy and natural resources efficiently. This constitutes an important part of EFMA’spromotion of good manufacturing and agricultural practices.

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EFMA’s ENVIRONMENTAL BENCHMARK SURVEY IN PRODUCTION

For 11 years EFMA has been conducting annual environmental benchmarks amongst its members. Data on theemissions of various compounds to water and air from our production facilities are gathered and displayedgraphically. This enables EFMA to monitor the development of emissions from the European fertilizer industryand allows all members to compare their plants with those of other participants in the survey. TESC encouragesopen discussion among its members in order to improve the environmental performance of European fertilizerproduction.

In December, 2006 the EU Best Available Techniques (BAT) Reference Document Ammonia, Acids andFertilizers was issued by the EU Commission. This document serves as guidance for National Authorities to setpermits to operate. EFMA took active part in the work behind the document and will continue to support theauthorities with data for providing a better understanding of the complexities of fertilizer manufacturingprocesses and emissions for permit setting.

Trend analysis from EFMA’s benchmarking shows a decrease of emissions over the years. As examples of thisanalysis the graphs displaying NOx emissions from ammonia – and nitric acid plants, N2O emissions from nitricacid plants, emissions of N- and P-components to water and ammonia emissions to air from finished fertilizerplants (urea, AN, CAN, NPK) are presented.

NOx to Air Emission Rate from EFMA Ammonia Plants (Base year = 1996)

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1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

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Emission Rate (kg emissionper tonne produced) Baseyear is 100%

Total Production in Indices

NOx emissions into air from ammonia plants.

The base year is 1996. A reduction of 28% has been achieved.

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NOx to Air Emission Rate from EFMA Nitric Acid Plants (HNO3 100%; Base year = 1996)

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Emission Rate (kg emission pertonne produced) Base year is100%

Total Production in Tonnes Baseyear 1996

NOx emissions into air from nitric acid plants.

The base year is 1996 when we first did our benchmark. A 53% reduction has been achieved.

N2O to Air Emission Rate from EFMA Nitric Acid Plants (HNO3 100%; Base year = 1999)

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1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

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N2O emissions into air from EFMA nitric acid plants.

EFMA has gathered data on N2O emissions since 1999 and is supportive of implementing appropriateabatement techniques where technically feasible.

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Ammonia to Air Emission Rate from EFMA UREA AN CAN NPK Plants ( Base year = 2000)

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Ammonia emission into air from finished fertilizer plants (Urea, AN,CAN,NPK)

In the year 2000 we started to gather the emission data from finished fertilizers such as Urea, AN, CAN andNPK separately. After a steady decrease of ammonia emissions a slight increase of these emissions can be foundin 2006. This is caused by the slight increase in ammonia emissions in NPK plants and Urea plants..

Nitrogen to Water Emission Rate from EFMA UREA AN CAN NPK Plants (Base year = 2000)

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Nitrogen emission into water from finished fertilizer plants (Urea, AN,CAN,NPK)

In the year 2000 we started to gather the emission data from finished fertilizers such as Urea, AN, CAN andNPK separately. This graph shows a 40% decrease of nitrogen emissions into water achieved in a period of 6years.

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Phosphorus to Water Emission Rate from EFMA Fertilizer Plants (Base year = 1996)

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1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

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Phosphorus emission into water from finished fertilizer plants (mainly NPK)

Though with great variations on a yearly base, which may be due to the P-content of different NPK formulationsproduced, this graph shows an overall decreasing trend in P- emissions into water achieved over a period of11 years.

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EFMA’S ACTIVITIES IN AGRICULTURE

In the year 2006 EFMA issued two publications which will contribute to improving the information andknowledge on the use of fertilizers. One of these publications simply but exhaustively presents the benefit ofusing fertilizers in the production of bio-energy, making this process highly eco-efficient and improving itsproductivity. The second publication emphasises the importance of good agricultural practices for thedistribution and usage of fertilizers, as part of the industry’s product stewardship. With the same objective offurther propagating the principles of Good Agricultural Practice, and more precisely Good Fertilization Practice,EFMA organised a conference on Integrated Farm Management which was held in November 2006.

Producing Bio-Energy:Saving Fossil Resources and Contributing to Limiting Emissions of Greenhouse Gases

The European Union considers biomass a major source for the production of renewable energy. Energy cropscan be first grown on the 4 mio. ha of available set-aside land. Mineral fertilizers are very important for theproduction of bio-energy, as their use enables farmers to produce high biomass yields. These high yields helpmeet the ambitious targets for bio-energy set by the EU. When using mineral fertilizers, the energy balance ishighly positive: mineral fertilizers help produce 4 to 6 times more energy in the form of biomass compared tothat consumed while producing, transporting and applying the fertilizer.

At the same time, the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) balance of biomass is almost neutral when biomass is directlyused for energy production. When biomass is transformed to biofuels, the GHG balance depends upon lossesduring the conversion from biomass to fuels; however, when biofuels such as bio-ethanol and bio-dieselsubstitute fossil fuels in existing applications, the reserves of the fossil fuels last longer and “fossil” CO2 emissionsare avoided. Using biomass therefore contributes to a net saving of GHG emissions.

EFMA strongly supports the efficient use of biomass as a source of renewable energy, in order to save resourcesand reduce the emission of Greenhouse Gases.

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EFMA Involvement in Good Agricultural Practice

EFMA understands and acknowledges the importance of good practices for fertilizer production, distributionand usage as part of the industry’s product stewardship. The above publication presents a simple but exhaustiveanalysis of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) which need to be applied when using fertilizers. EFMA stronglysupports and promotes these GAP, and more specifically the Good Fertilization Practices. The fertilizer industryhas, over recent decades, funded a considerable volume of research into efficient and environment-compatiblesoil management and crop production practices. In addition it has developed and introduced many of thepractical tools which assist the farmer to achieve these good practices. Good nutrient and soil management area core part of the Integrated Farm Management approach now adopted by leading farmers throughout Europe.

With the same objective of further propagating the principles of Good Agricultural Practice, and more preciselyGood Fertilization Practice, toward EU officials and other stakeholders involved in agriculture, EFMA organizeda conference in November 2006 on Integrated Farm Management, calling on all organisations aiming at a moresustainable agriculture to join forces to facilitate the propagation of GAP to farmers.

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LIST OF EFMA’S PUBLICATIONS

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List of EFMA’s publications in the period 1990-2007 in the area of:

1 Technology, Safety and the Environment

2 Agriculture and Environment

Publications are available from our website http://www.efma.org/

1990 Hazardous Properties of Ammonia

1991 Recommendations for Safe Storage and Handling of Wet Process Phosphoric Acid(Phosphoric Acid Produced from Sulphuric Acid)

1992 Selected Tests Concerning the Safety Aspects of Fertilizers

1992 Handbook Safe Storage of Ammonium Nitrate Based fertilizers (revised)

1996 Guidance for the Compilation of Safety Data Sheets for Fertilizer Materials (under revision)

1998 Guidelines for Transporting Nitric Acid in Tanks

1998 Code of Best Agricultural Practices for Nitrogen

1999 Energy Recovery by Crops in Dependence on the Input of Mineral Fertilizers

2000 Code of Best Agricultural Practices for Urea

2000 Best Available Techniques

Booklet No. 1: Production of Ammonia

Booklet No. 2: Production of Nitric Acid

Booklet No. 3: Production of Sulphuric Acid (in collaboration with ESA)

Booklet No. 4: Production of Phosphoric Acid

Booklet No. 5: Production of Urea and Urea-Ammonium Nitrate

Booklet No. 6: Production of Ammonium Nitrate and Calcium Ammonium Nitrate

Booklet No. 7: Production of NPK Compound Fertilizers by Nitrophosphate Route

Booklet No. 8: Production of NPK Compound Fertilizers by Mixed Acid Route

2000 Understanding Phosphorus and its Use in Agriculture

2001 Sustainable Soil Management: An Achievable Goal

2002 Recommendations for safe and reliable inspection of atmospheric, refrigerated ammonia storage

2002 11 Basic Safety Principles (EFMA/IFA)

2002 Harvesting Energy with Fertilizers

2003 Guidance for Safe Handling and Use of Non-conforming Fertilizers and Related Materials. (Producers)

2003 Leaflet Fertilizers and Fire

2003 Farming for the Future

2003 EFMA’s Position on Greenhouse Gases

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2003 The European Fertilizer Manufacturers Association’s position on the European Commission’s proposalfor a directive on the EU Emissions Trading: 12 December 2003

2003 Understanding potassium and its use in agriculture

2004 Delivering quality to your food The Benefits of Mineral Fertilizers

2004 Guidance for Safe Handling and Utilization of Non-conforming Solid Fertilizers and RelatedMaterials for Fertilizer Importers, Distributors and Merchants

2004 Understanding nitrogen and its use agriculture

2004 Guidance Relating to Sea Transport of Ammonium Nitrate Based fertilizers

2005 EFMA’s leaflet short version Guidance for Handling Non-conforming Ammonium Nitrate BasedFertilizers in Distribution Chain

2005 Guidance for Ammonia Transport by Rail (revised)

2005 Guidance for The Storage of Hot Ammonium Nitrate Solutions

2005 EFMA’s position paper on N2O Gases

2005 EFMA’s SHE Report October, 2005

2006 Guidance for the Compatibility of Fertilizer Blending Materials

2006 Guidance for the UN Classification of Ammonium nitrate Based Substances

2006 Sustaining Fertile Soils and Productive Agriculture

2006 Producing BioEnergy and making the best of European Land

2006 EFMA’s SHE Report October 2006

2007 Guidance for the Storage, Handling and Transportation of Solid Mineral Fertilizers

2007 Guidance for Ammonia Transport by Rail (English/German)

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Avenue E. van Nieuwenhuyse, 4B-1160 BrusselsBelgiumTel: +32 2 675 35 50Fax: +32 2 675 39 61E-mail: [email protected]

For more information about EFMAvisit the web-site www.efma.org


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