Council investigation failed to find conclusive proof around methyl bromide incident

Tuesday, 17 July 2018

Genera staff vent methyl bromide after a fumigation at the port of Tauranga.

Warnings have been issued to a fumigation company over its methyl bromide operations after an incident in which four workers at the Port of Tauranga ended up in hospital.

Stuff has obtained a report by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council into the March 8 incident involving four stevedores who had been working about 100m away from where Genera staff were fumigating log stacks with methyl bromide.

Methyl bromide is a toxic gas which is damaging to the ozone layer and can be lethal to humans in high doses.

Fumigant venting on March 8 (an extract from a video from the port surveillance cameras).

It has to be phased out under an international treaty but New Zealand is using more than ever as timber exports boom. Genera does most of the country's timber fumigations.

Approximate location of the fumigation and the port workers.

* Widow says toxic methyl bromide should have been banned years ago

* NZ's problem with toxic methyl bromide has a possible solution**

The council report says four workers from stevedore company ISO went to hospital with symptoms including abdominal pain, wheezing, nausea, vomiting, lethargy and headaches.

While it was possible the health effects were caused by methyl bromide exposure, there was insufficient evidence to prove this beyond a reasonable doubt, the report found.

However, the investigation highlighted a number of compliance issues and as a result Genera had been served with four abatement notices.

The investigation found:

* On March 8, Genera's air monitoring equipment was not downwind of where the fumigation was being carried out, as required by its consent.

* At times the company has been carrying out fumigations closer to the western boundary of the wharves than the 100m minimum required.

Mark Self, chief executive of Genera, which has been served with four abatement notices for allegedly breaching consent conditions.

* Genera had not submitted a plan to council on where fumigation was to take place, in breach of its consent.

* Genera's consent required it to report complaints about its activities to council within 24 hours but it wasn't until six days after the March incident that it did so - and then only after the council requested details.

The council commissioned a report from a consultant toxicologist, Professor Ian Shaw, who was able to examine the medical records of two of the four workers.

He found that while the evidence was not conclusive, there was circumstantial evidence one of the men suffered toxicity resulting from acute exposure to methyl bromide and it was possible the other worker had as well.

Matt Hill, Genera's chief operating officer, said the company had always thought that methyl bromide was not the cause of the workers' symptoms and investigations by the council and Worksafe had not found otherwise.

Genera was surprised by the abatement notices and was taking advice on a possible appeal as they could have significant impact on operations at the port.

Hill said Genera and the port were 'scratching our heads' over the notice telling the company to cease fumigating within 100m of the western port boundary, which was the sea.

'We've been fumigating on the berth forever. They're essentially now saying the port boundary is the wharf's edge and you can't fumigate within 100m of the wharf's edge, which rules out the berth.'

Mark Self, chief executive of Genera, accused the council of 'reneging on some of our agreed responsibilities'.

'They committed to policing the seaward buffer zone when we met prior to the consent being issued,' he said. 'The harbourmaster has agreed to do this, we would struggle.'

But Eddie Grogan, the council's principal regulatory adviser, said in the past four years Genera had never contacted the harbourmaster about policing the seaward buffer zone.

He said the council's investigation was led by its most senior investigator and involved engaging a range of experts.

Genera had a resource consent to fumigate, Grogan said, and could continue to do so provided it complied with its conditions and the Resource Management Act.

Aubrey Wilkinson, spokesman for the Tauranga Moana Fumigant Action Group which is campaigning to have methyl bromide eliminated, said the council report highlighted the inadequacy of monitoring methods and the toxic effects of even low levels of exposure to the gas.

Meanwhile, WorkSafe has issued ISO with an improvement notice as a result of the incident, after finding it had no adequate emergency response system to manage workers when there was a suspected exposure to contaminants.

ISO had indicated it would develop such a system said Darren Handforth, Worksafe's chief inspector.