Case #1
In late April, our contractor, Shanghai Baoye Construction Corporation, drove an overloaded truck onto the road at Shanghai Chemical Industry Park and decapitated two motorcycle riders when surpassing them. The families of the riders protested to the Fengxian district government and SCIP Police Bureau was asked to investigate the accidents. Before the accident, the driver and the overloaded truck had already received warnings from the local police and were asked to register to gain the right of way; however the ignorance of the regulation and road safety finally led to the tragedy. The driver is under official investigation now.
Solution: Prepare Q&A for the visit of SCIP Police Bureau Chief
Case #2
Cangzhou Dahua TDI Explosion
In brief:
- At 13:40 pm on May 11, 2007 an explosion occurred at TDI plant of Cangzhou Big Chemical Group in Hebei province.
- The explosion happened at the nitration workshop and then caused the toluene storage to catch fire.
- So far there are 9 fatalities, 9 in serious condition and 96 people wounded.
- The police have blocked the area and around 2,000 people in the nearby area have been evacuated at 15:00 PM.
- The Cangzhou government has established a crisis management center to handle the accident.
- So far no harmful leakage has been detected in the atmosphere.
- The workshop's power and water supplies were cut off immediately after the accident.
- The fire was extinguished at 16:30.
- The cause of the accident is unknown at this stage.
Solution: Media Analysis (with detailed report)
Noteworthy is that the local government has held a pressconference, in which a HES manager apparently gave contradictory information related to whether the gas leakage had happened before, sparking media and public suspicion on the company's safety records.
There are now 43 media reports in the print media, and another 53 online reports. Focus in the reporting still appears factual, though doubts are arising in the media reports about:
- Is the distance between the plant and the residential area is too short
- Why were the FF facilities not working during the accident
- Whether there was a gas leakage afterwards or not
- Whether a gas leakage or any other accidents had happened before
We have also reviewed public blogs on the internet, and there are several comments on the Hebei local BBS which claimed to have witnessed or know of the accidents have said that the government is lying. The real number of fatalities and injuries are much more than the official number. Some local residents also said the government is irresponsible to have allowed a company to have built a dangerous chemical plant near them for economic profits.
We will continue to monitor for how this will impact media reporting / government public positioning.
We have thus far not received any query from the media relating to our TDI investment.
More key points of the media report
- Cangzhou Dahua counts for around 12% of the total TDI production capacity in China, thus the accident results in a further rising pressure to the TDI price.
- It is very unclear when the Cangzhou site can go back to production.
- The local area and residents were shocked during the accident. And the fear of the nearby chemical plant has been around for a long time.
- The evacuation was a mess. The villagers did not get clear instruction and support during the process.
- The hospital is full of the injured requiring medical help.
- The explosion caused terrible damage to the nearby villages and the residents are still waiting for the help from government.
- Foreign media coverage. More foreign media and websites have picked up the story. However, the content is more factual and is just a copy of the Chinese media reports. Further comments or analysis are rarely made.
Case #3MDI spillage on the road in the evening of May 21. Two HSEQ colleagues are onroute to the truck location, and work to contain and clean up the spillage could be completed by tomorrow morning. A local journalist was onsite requesting information on the spillage. The journalist was with a film crew.
The cleanup of the affected area, and the safe transfer of remaining crude MDI to a second isotainer, were completed successfully by early morning of May 22.
Solution: Make standby statement for external media (updated)speak with the journalist directly, leveraging on key points from the standby statement
emphasise that the situation is under control, with prompt action of local firefighters / police and expert advice of our staff
monitor closely in case there is any additional or negative reporting in the media on this matter, or if it is covered more extensively in the Chinese press / blog
