What Violations were Revealed in JSC “Rustavi Azoti” by the 18th July Inspection?
What Violations were Revealed in JSC “Rustavi Azoti” by the 18th July Inspection?
Those of you who were in Rustavi on July 18, probably noticed the intense smoke coming out of the “Rustavi Azoti” area.
Citizens provided several images describing the incident to the civil movement “Gavigudet”, which we then shared with the public.
As a response to the fact, our team also requested public information, as we were interested in what exactly caused the fire and what was the response to the incident from the Department of Environmental Supervision.
As mentioned in the letter of the department, on July 18, 2022, a total of 5 calls were made to the hotline of the Department of Environmental Supervision – 153 regarding Rustavi, where citizens informed the department about fire and smoke.
As a result of the inspection, a fire broke out in JSC “Rustavi Azoti” in the area of packaging materials, in particular, polyethylene and polypropylene bags were on fire.
Due to the fire, the inspector of the Kvemo Kartli Division of the Department of Environmental Supervision wrote a violation report, since the enterprise violated the conditions established by the environmental decision issued on February 19, 2021.
According to the environmental impact assessment report, JSC “Rustavis Azoti” was responsible for the presence and proper operation of fire-fighting equipment in the area.
The company had to comply with fire prevention norms, have an effective fire-fighting inventory in all areas, and indicate the person responsible for fire safety and his contact information on the fire stands.
Also, in case of a fire, the company had to ensure that fire prevention measures were taken before the arrival of local and regional fire brigades.
Since JSC “Rustavi Azoti” could not implement fire prevention measures prompted by the environmental decision, on July 27, a violation report was drawn up, which will be sent to the Rustavi City Court for review.
The mentioned case is a good example of the fact that often, according to documents, enterprises have everything in order, but the reality is completely different. That is why it is necessary to activate unplanned inspections so that first – the safety of the workers, and then – the health of the residents of Rustavi is not threatened.
The news was prepared within the framework of the project – “Defending Our Right to Clean Air in Rustavi”, which is implemented with the support of the European Endowment for Democracy.