Chemicals company Sabic has been fined €10 million for negligence and failing to take proper steps to head off the risk of serious accidents, in a case involving four firms located at the Chemelot industrial site in Limburg. 

Sabic had faced a fine of €25 million but the court rejected the public prosecution demand, saying the department had not proved that Sabic had acted deliberately.  

In the most serious incident, one worker died and another suffered serious burns when naphtha, a flammable hydrocarbon gas, leaked from a storage tank belonging to Sabic, one of four companies operating on the site.

The public prosecution service took action last year in the wake of four incidents at the Chemelot site in Sittard-Geleen, Limburg, between 2015 and 2019.

Chemelot, as the organisation with overall responsibility for the site and the permit holder, and the three other companies located there – Borealis Plastomers, OCI Nitrogen and AnQore – also faced charges in respect of the safety breaches.

OCI Nitrogen and AnQore were each fined €360,000 for their role in other serious accidents but Chemelot Site Permit (CSP) and Borealis, were found not guilty.