WINNIPEG – Fire officials are changing the way they inspect businesses that use or make hazardous materials.
There are 300 “high hazard” sites in Winnipeg that under existing rules are not regularly inspected to ensure safety measures are in place, the city says.
Fire crews will now inspect hazardous materials businesses on a regular basis. Those classified as “high hazard” will be checked once a year. “Low hazard” companies will be inspected once every five years.
The switch comes 1.5 years after an explosion destroyed Speedway International, a racing fuel manufacturer. The October 2012 blaze sent fireballs and thick plumes of black smoke into the air and caused $15-million damage. Parts of St. Boniface had to be evacuated.
“I think it’s definitely a step in the right direction,” said St. Boniface Coun. Dan Vandal. “Ideally, in the long term, we want to put distance between where people live and where the high hazard industrial sites are. We know that’s not going to happen overnight because the high hazard sites have property rights. So, I think today was a step in the right direction.”
Currently, there is no requirment that hazardous sites be inspected annually. Officials will only conduct inspections following a complaint, if firefighters notice potential issues or if the property owner requests one.
“We were doing these inspections,” said Janet Bier, the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service’s director of fire prevention. “However, we didn’t have a regular process. This will allow us to have that regular process of scheduled inspections and we can discover these types of hazardous processes or safety concerns prior to another accident occurring.”
The changes are expected to come into effect July 1.
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