East Narangba Community Action Group
GPO Box 89
Kallangur 4503
Ph. 3888 5287
Fax 3888 8218
Promoting a Better Environment for Our Families
and Future Generations
THE COMMUNITY REQUIREMENTS
McIntyre Environment Impact Assessment
We the community demand that recommendations in the 1995 report be implemented
without further delay. The community demands results not excuses - no half measures
and no band-aids. The Community demand that all NHO Business be relocated out
of Narangba IMMEDIATELY.
Engineered Environmental Solutions
We the community demand that Engineered Environmental Solutions are maintained
in a proper and responsible manner.
Signage
We the community demand that signage relative to NIE and Council Documents,
plans etc. identify this are as Noxious Hazardous and Offensive and not Industrial
or Special Development.
Community-Right-to-Know
We the community demand existing legislation to include the concept of Community-Right-to-Know
as is instituted in the US legislation for chemical estates and major hazard
facilities. The US have instituted Community-Right-to-Know based on a larger
number of chemical incidents that have impacted on communities.
The Community-Right-to-Know provisions should be structured to allow a large degree of transparency regarding hazardous, noxious and offensive industry and, consequently, to prevent political interference and favouritism that has been demonstrated to date with certain businesses due to either their ownership or corporate size.
Community Representative to Accompany Government Auditors on Audits &
Inspections
We the community demand that at least one nominated community representative
be present at any audit within hazardous noxious and offensive industrial estates
by state government and local government (note - this is not just specifically
for Narangba - more so Community-Right-to-Know and Community Awareness).
Hazardous Industrial Estate Emergency Response Plan Website
We the community demand the State government should fund and administer a website
for the emergency response for all industrial estates so that all emergency
response information is available to the public (more Community-Right-to-Know).
This especially includes all State government emergency response measures and
resources and is not to be limited to Narangba Industrial Estate. The State
government should also post details on this website to demonstrate that their
emergency response crews have received continual chemical emergency response
training to provide evidence to the community that the community is not placed
at risk due to inadequate training and knowledge.
Emergency Response Emergency Coordinator
We the community demand the State government must also appoint a central emergency
response coordinator to ensure that all aspects of emergency response are routinely
reviewed and emergency response training programs are changed to reflect the
needs of worst-case emergency response scenarios. Each chemical business in
the Narangba Industrial Estate has an Emergency Response Plan that are useless
in isolation without having someone charged with the responsibility to ensure
that everything is brought together during an emergency situation.
This central coordinator must have the powers to direct emergency training by state government agencies to occur as we have been made aware of instances where QFRS officers have been offered entire chemical facilities in the Narangba Industrial Estate to practice chemical emergency response and the QFRS has failed to take up these offers.
Audit and Inspection Anomalies
Since the Binary Industries fire, there were 9 audits and inspections conducted
in the Narangba Industrial Estate on the small businesses up to and including
17 March 2006. The large businesses in the Narangba Industrial Estate received
only one or two audits or inspections during this period, including one business
that has exactly the same chemical operation as Binary but on a much larger
scale with approximately 3 times the consequence.
There was not even a check done on this business to ensure that all critical risk control processes were being maintained until the middle of March 2006 (almost 7 months after the Binary fire!). There is no evidence that the government had targeted the audits and inspections based on any risk posed to the Community, but more of a knee-jerk reaction with very little forethought to provide the impression that something was being done. Government agencies vilifying small businesses within the estate and leaving the larger, higher hazard industries go without priority audits does give the impression of political alliances at work that have been clearly demonstrated in the past. Putting political alliances before public interest and public safety is an abuse of office and simply outrages the Community as the individuals involved are not even smart enough to hide it.
The EPA were mysteriously absent from some of these audits and some of these sites have never been audited by the EPA (only occasional site visits).
Council Regulation of Dangerous Goods in Hazardous Noxious and Offensive
Industrial Estates
The Councils must not be permitted to engage in any aspect of regulation of
businesses in these hazardous, noxious and offensive industrial estates such
as Narangba, as they have clearly demonstrated that they do not have the necessary
skills, knowledge and experience to understand the cumulative impacts of chemical
storage and operations where multiple classes and/or large quantities of dangerous
goods exist at Dangerous
Goods Locations, Large Dangerous Goods Locations or Major Hazard Facilities.
The State government simply cannot divest its liability through delegation to
local governments for any aspect of regulating dangerous goods and the local
governments have a high turnover rate that will typically make further and intensified
DG training ineffective as a protection measure for the Community.
Obligations of the Queensland Government
The Queensland Government has obligations to the community that it has been
neglecting for quite some time, particularly regarding the larger companies
that seem to be the polluters and also have the chief non-compliances as some
do not meet the requirements of the Building Code of Australia, Queensland legislation
or relevant standards and guidelines without apparent reason. The Community
demands as a whole a commitment from the government to ensure that large companies
are not allowed to have non-compliances, as they are the very ones who can financially
afford to raise their standards and comply.
We demand that government departments cease forthwith giving any notice of impending audits to recipient companies.