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ICL markets a wide range of products worldwide. One of its key products is Bromine. ICL produces approximately 200,000 tonnes of bromine annually at ICL Dead Sea. Some of the bromine is transported to ICL’s Neot-Hovav Bromine Compounds plant where it is combined with other ingredients to create new products. Bromine not used by ICL Neot-Hovav is transported and sold to various clients worldwide.
ICL is the #1 producer of Bromine and responsible for 38% of global Bromine production capacity.
Due to the unique properties of Bromine, ICL has developed a designated safety management policy for this material. New customers must undergo a strict assessment before ordering Bromine. New customers and customers that have never been audited, must be audited before the first delivery of bulk bromine. Some existing customers with higher risk are also audited occasionally. Customers who fail the audit, or do not undergo the audit on time, will be flagged as non-compliant and ICL will halt Bromine supply until the requirements are met.
ICL has published a Bromine Safety Handbook, providing clients and other users, with ‘best practices’ for handling bromine throughout its lifecycle. The Safety Handbook includes professional guidance for: packaging and labeling, safe transportation (including drivers’ loading checklist), emergency response and much more.
Bromine is a unique and hazardous material that requires careful transportation and handling. ICL maintains a fleet of approximately 1,100 steel ISO tanks, with a 20-tonne capacity and coated with lead, to transport the Bromine.
There are very stringent standards regulating Bromine transportation. Each ISO tank is checked by a certified inspector. Any ISO tank that does not pass certain tests is sent for repairs or is discarded.
ICL transports bromine from ICL Dead Sea to Neot-Hovav on a designated road. Bromine that is exported from Israel is transported mostly via train to various ports. Multiple safety measures are taken by the company when it transports Bromine. Transports travel at low speeds and each train transporting Bromine includes a special ICL railway car carrying material which can quickly neutralize Bromine in the event of an accident. Additional safety measures are also taken on each of the transports.
Once the ISO tanks arrive at the port, the company tests for leaks before the ISO tanks are loaded onto ships. After the loading is completed, the ISO tanks are tested once again for possible leaks. At the port of destination, the ISO tanks are checked again for leaks by an international, certified company. From the port, the Bromine is delivered to customers on trailer trucks. Empty ISO tanks are thoroughly checked at all key transport points and are delivered back to ICL Dead Sea.
Due to Bromine’s unique and hazardous properties, a high level of training and professionalism is necessary when handling it.
In Israel, incidents involving hazardous materials are usually dealt by the police and fire department. But due to Bromine’s unique properties, any incidents that occur during transport are under the responsibility of ICL. Therefore, ICL has created a coordinated system in primary geographical areas, from the south to the north of the country. Certified firefighters, whose primary activity is handling Bromine, are the ones that are active in the field in the event of an emergency. ICL has also developed unique equipment to deal with a Bromine-related emergency.
In countries other than Israel, ICL has retained the services of local companies that provide emergency services. ICL monitors, trains and provides unique equipment to the service teams. Some of these service teams travel to ICL’s facilities in Israel to learn about the specific qualities of Bromine and to train for emergency scenarios.
Three Bromine manufacturers, ICL - Industrial Products, Lanxess and Albemarle Europe Sprland, cooperate to deal with actual and potential Bromine leaks or spills in Europe. The companies have agreed on principles and procedures to deal with bromine emergencies. They have created a website called BromAid which describes the emergency services that the companies provide for incidents at Bromine customers’ premises and during road, rail or marine transport. The site also includes a Safety handbook that provides information and guidance to both Bromine users and trained response personnel. It includes information on Bromine properties and guidance for actions required at the scene of an incident.
The company supplying Bromine accepts the general obligation to respond to an emergency. The arrangements, however, provide for another participating company to respond in order to save time, provide reinforcement or reduce the effects of an incident.
Each participating company maintains a system to receive emergency messages at any hour, day or night, and to relay those messages to the appropriate company officials. This ensures that expert advice can be provided quickly and that, should the situation warrant it, a trained team of specialists can be sent to deal with an incident.
In June 2019, two incidents occurred (June 3rd, June 23rd) during the transportation of hazardous materials (HBr – hydrobromic acid) within trucks operated by ICL Mifalei Tovala, on route 25 (Beer Sheva-Dimona-Dead Sea). In both cases, the truck drivers noticed a leak in the liquid capture container in the truck. Upon noticing the malfunction, the drivers stopped safely at the shoulder of the road, without disturbing traffic flow on the road, and immediately reported the event to the Company’s emergency supervisors and to the relevant authorities.
In both cases, ICL response teams, as well as fire and rescue personnel arrived at the scene within a few minutes, and neutralized the hazard (in full coordination between ICL and the authorities). Both incidents ended quickly and without any significant impact.
During the first event (June 3rd), while addressing the malfunction, one of the emergency team workers, who was equipped with a protective visor, felt a stinging sensation in his eye and required medical attention. The second incident (June 23rd) concluded without any injuries.
An inquiry of the events found technical failings (different in each case) that caused the leak. The conclusions of the inquiries have been implemented and the frequency of control checks of the failed components was increased. In addition, HBr detectors, including a gage in the driver’s cabin, have been installed in all relevant trucks.
ICL has developed an innovative product for further improving the handling of potential Bromine spill incidents. BromoQuel™ offers a safe response and an immediate suppression of bromine vapor and liquid spills.
While current methods require a complex and time-consuming response in case of an emergency involving Bromine, ICL’s new products, BromoQuel™ causes the free bromine to become a complex salt, immediately minimizing its spread with an end-product that can be easily collected.
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