News On Air Cargo and Dangerous Goods Industry
The dangerous goods report was supposedly for outlining the potential risks posed to businesses and resident from the hazardous chemicals going through their suburb while being transported. However, concerned people criticize the report as being flawed and unrealistic.
Dangerous goods transported from Port Botany towards Denison Street include explosives, LPG, chlorine, and petroleum. Most come from the Botany Industrial Park, which stores the plastics and chemicals used by big companies such as Qenos, Orica, and Huntsman.
What makes the report, commissioned and submitted by the Botany City Council and the Department of Planning, flawed are its recommendations that are impossible to comply with and for the omitted risk assessment of possible injuries if an incident or accident occurs.
Representatives from the Department of Planning refuse to attend the meetings set by the Botany Council’s Risk Committee to discuss the flaws of the report, which angered both residents and business owners. Ben Keneally, Mayor of Botany, has expressed the dissatisfaction of the council towards the department for its failure to handle their shortcomings. “Initially, the department didn’t even consider undertaking a quantitative risk assessment. They have taken an extraordinary length of time to come up with a final draft’, said the mayor.
“The Department of Planning neglected to send one of their representatives to attend the council’s meeting, to answer questions of concerned citizen and to discuss the report’s aspects. This was an important step that they should have taken as there were recommendations in the report that are flawed and hard to comply with.”
A spokeswoman from the DoP said otherwise. She claimed that the department met with the Council’s Risk Committee several times to discuss and consult on their draft report, should they have any feedback about it. “The department and our consultant will take into consideration submitted feedbacks and concerns. When all are finalized, the final report will be published online for public consumption”, she said.