Safety Legislation and the Fertiliser Industry

Keywords: Fertiliser safety regulations, Fertiliser transport regulations, Ammonium nitrate, Ammonia, EU Directives.

A number of popular fertilisers and associated process raw materials, for example, ammonium nitrate and ammonia, possess potentially hazardous properties and, therefore, it is inevitable that they are affected by most safety and environment related legislation. This paper describes the main legislation of this nature affecting various activities such as production, storage, product safety, labelling and transport. The paper covers all the main fertilisers i.e. ammonium nitrate, urea and compound fertilisers based on them. Further, it also covers all the main raw materials, e.g. ammonia, nitric acid, various phosphates and ammonium sulphate. In addition to discussing the main requirements of the various legislation, the paper briefly gives historical perspective to regulations/directives and likely future trends in their development. The paper focuses on global and European Community/Union (EC/EU) legislation.

K D Shah, B.Sc (Eng) Hons, F.IChemE, C.Eng. MIOSH. Terra Nitrogen (UK) Limited, Stockton-on-Tees, UK.

20 Pages, 5 Tables, 6 References.