11/08/2005 - Today (11
August 2005) the Environment Agency served
an Enforcement Notice on Tessenderlo Fine
Chemicals Limited in Leek.
We served the Notice under the Pollution
Prevention and Control (PPC) Regime after
the company contravened conditions of its
Permit issued under the PPC regulations
The Notice has been issued to deal with factors
concerning a situation which arose in May
2005, when the company installed new equipment
on its site.
During routine environmental monitoring the
company noticed that it was exceeding emissions
limits set down in its PPC permit. There were
several of these breaches between 24 May 2005
and late June 2005, when the company informed
us of the situation. The company was required
by its Permit to inform us of any breaches
as soon as possible after they occured.
One of our officers investigated and identified
a number of failings which the Notice seeks
to rectify.
The Enforcement Notice deals with two issues
concerning the incident:
First, the company failed to adequately assess
process engineering requirements, or properly
address the risks and regulatory requirements
which could have arisen from the installation
of the new equipment. Its procedures for dealing
with breaches of this type failed to ensure
timely and adequate measures were taken to
identify and rectify the problems.
This resulted in a failure to notify us of
both the installation of new equipment and
the subsequent breaches. There was also a
delay in identifying and reporting the breaches.
Second, the company’s Total Preventative
Maintenance Schedules (TPM) did not include
equipment the proper operation of which would
have reduced the magnitude of the breach.
With regard to the first issue, the Enforcement
Note requires the company to review systems
in order to clearly identify roles and responsibilities
and ensure that all relevant assessments are
carried out properly and to consider potential
environmental impacts of changes to their
manufacturing process. It has until 30 September
2005 to do this.
The Enforcement Notice requires the company
to identify all appropriate abatement equipment
and ensure that suitable schedules are put
into place and followed. They have until 30
September 2005 to do this.
More Information:
We can serve an Enforcement Notice when a
condition is contravened or likely to be contravened
or has been contravened. The Notice must specify
the reasons why the notice has been served,
the action that is required and the date by
which the action must be undertaken.
The action to be taken can include both the
steps to be taken in order to comply with
the conditions of the permit and the steps
necessary to remedy the effects of any pollution
caused by the contravention.
It is an offence for a person to fail to
comply with the requirements of an Enforcement
Notice or a Suspension Notice.
A person guilty of non-compliance with an
Enforcement Notice shall be liable: on summary
conviction to a fine not exceeding £20,000
or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding
six months or to both; on conviction on indictment,
to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not
exceeding five years or to both.
