On September 26, a huge fire broke out at the Lubrizol and Normandie Logistique sites in Rouen. - Philippe LOPEZ / AFP

The Senate committee of inquiry into the spectacular Lubrizol fire in Rouen denounces "unacceptable blind spots" in the policy for the prevention of industrial risks in France, and pinpoints the ex-Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn in a report published Thursday.

"Like health monitoring proper, the identification of the health risk as practiced by the Ministry of Health was both late and incomplete", write the rapporteurs Christine Bonfanti-Dossat (LR) and Nicole Bonnefoy (PS) in their conclusions on this "major industrial accident", with no "apparent" victim, which was the subject of "200,000 tweets in 24 hours".

Health monitoring is "problematic"

The fire, which occurred on September 26 on the Seveso high threshold site, had caused a huge cloud of black smoke 22 km long with fallout of soot into the Hauts-de-France. Nearly 9,505 tonnes of chemicals had burned in this automobile lubricants plant and on the neighboring Normandy Logistics site.

For the commission chaired by the centrist Hervé Maurey, the methodology adopted by the Ministry of Health for health monitoring is "problematic". "It appears (...) that it is impossible to give a definitive opinion on the health impact of the Lubrizol fire, in view of the only data collected as part of environmental monitoring, the latter being totally or partially unusable" , continue the senators.

Sanctions not strong enough

The Minister for the Ecological Transition is also criticized. Its stated objective following the disaster "50% increase in controls by 2022 at constant staff" is "unrealistic", according to the report. The senators also denounce the "premature" decision of the Minister of Agriculture "taken urgently on October 11" to lift the ban on the sale of milk produced in more than 200 municipalities.

"The industrial risk prevention policy deployed for 40 years in France reveals significant and unacceptable blind spots", write the rapporteurs. "The budgetary appropriations allocated by the State to the prevention of technological risks have been decreasing for several years," add the senators. Elected officials of the High Assembly also point out "the reduced number of sanctions pronounced" against polluters.

Society

Lubrizol fire in Rouen: 20% of residents still anxious almost eight months later

Society

Lubrizol fire in Rouen: The victims' association alerts the justice system to the lack of transparency regarding the products burned

  • Lubrizol
  • Fire
  • Disaster
  • Industry