Safe shores: how Ricardo supports Emergency Services in chemical incidents

As part of our National role supporting the UK emergency services Ricardo’s Emergency Response team advised on the potential hazards of ammonium nitrate being carried on a ship in UK coastal waters.

The ship had sustained damage, requiring repair and was initially at anchor before docking to allow transfer of the ammonium nitrate and repair of the ship. Our expert response team provided advice on the stability of the product, potential concerns over its explosive properties and the likelihood of environmental impacts from a spillage of the product. Supporting the decision of the Fire Service and Coastguard that the level of risk was low.

Ricardo’s Emergency Response team deal with an unending number of variables in the incidents they support. The chemical substances involved, location, volume of materials, weather conditions, and experience of the caller are just a sample of the factors influencing our team’s approach to formulating their advice. However, within this broad spectrum of calls, patterns do emerge and ammonium nitrate is a substance we are frequently called to advise on.

Ammonium nitrate has been implicated in large scale accidents, including the Beirut explosion in 2020 resulting in significant numbers of lives lost. Smaller scale incidents also occur including barn fires, exposures and accidental misuse or release of the product in environmentally sensitive areas.

When produced, stored and transported safely in significant quantities through its extensive use in agricultural fertiliser products, ammonium nitrate requires effective safety measures and development of emergency response plans in advance of a potential incident. Risk management measures such as this facilitate safe supply chains for a range of ammonium nitrate-based products.

Ricardo’s team received several calls relating to the incident, initiated by concern as to whether there may be an explosion. The emergency responder described the conditions that would lead to potential decomposition or explosion, which highlighted that risk posed by the damage to the ship was not significant. The discussion then focused on the environmental risks, should a significant quantity be released.

Whilst ammonium nitrate is not classified as environmentally toxic, it is readily soluble in water. Once dissolved it will act as a nutrient for microorganisms, accelerating their growth and leading to a reduction in water oxygen levels. Lower oxygen levels are harmful to fish, potentially leading to water courses being unable to support fish life. This process was described and put into the context of a release into the sea where dilution rates will be significantly higher than a release into a river or lake.

The ammonium nitrate calls we receive are frequently linked to this type of environmental concern, where a release of product has occurred during transportation or in an agricultural setting. We ensure that people at the scene are aware of the potential health and environmental risks and work with on-scene responders to ensure that the best available mitigation measures are used. Minimising the impact of the incident, time taken to resolve it, and costs of remediation – and reputational damage.  

Ricardo’s response team are continually refining their skills to produce emergency response guides linked to specific high-hazard chemicals and high-risk incident types to ensure our call centre team are up to date with the latest in response procedures and risk trends. For example, recent developments in energy sources such as electric vehicle fires, large scale battery energy storage systems and increased use of hydrogen and bioderived fuels have led to new emergency situations that may require novel approaches to ensure a safe outcome.

Working collaboratively with our customers and with First Responders enables us to better understand the hazard profile of our client’s products allowing us to ensure our responses are specific to the hazard of the materials involved.

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