Headlines November
Power outage Chemiepark Delfzijl is over, but enormous impact
The power outage at the Chemiepark near Delfzijl is over. The more than ten factories that have been shut down are cautiously starting up, reports the Groningen Safety Region. 'Starting up installations takes a lot of time. You can say that not much is being produced at the Chemical Park today', says spokesperson Harry Jasken of the Chemical Park. He previously said that shutting down the factories was an automatic precaution. "Everything is under control," he said Thursday morning.
Factories in 'safe mode'
Fire brigade spokesman Harmen Kuijer confirmed that there was 'no question of an emergency'. 'Factories go into a 'safe mode', so that processes are shut down. So there is no more production. The fact that we as emergency services have scaled up is mainly to be able to communicate better with each other in case things do go wrong.'
According to the Chemiepark website, the following companies are located there: Avantium, BioMCN, Delamine, DGR, Falck, JPB, J. Wildeman Storage & Logistics, Lubrizol, Nobian, Nouryon, Photanol, SGS, Stork, Teijin Aramid and Verwater Industrial Services.
Employees have to leave Chemical Park
All non-essential employees of affected companies at the Chemical Park were sent home on Thursday morning. No one else came to the site, the fire service said. 'The factories are now going to look individually at how they can start things up again,' says spokesman Kuijer. "That could take a few more hours."
No emergency power to start up all companies
Emergency power to run all factories in the Chemical Park again is not available. The companies therefore had to wait until the original power supply was restored. According to Chemiepark spokesperson Jasken, emergency power is available to allow certain processes to continue. 'For example, you don't want certain liquids to solidify. Then you can also remove the entire piping. So you want to keep it liquid.'
Source: https://www.rtvnoord.nl/nieuws/873567/stroomstoring-chemiepark-delfzijl-is-voorbij-maar-dit-loopt-wel-in-de-papieren-update
'Evil mister' smashes dozens of windows of companies and cars
WATERINGEN - According to the police, a 'very angry gentleman' smashed dozens of windows of an employment agency on Stoelmatter in Wateringen on Friday afternoon. The windows of cars that were near the building also had to suffer. The man has been arrested. It concerns employment agency Westflex. Photos show that holes have been punched into almost all windows on the ground floor of the building, as have a number of parked cars.
A police spokesperson said officers who responded to the report were able to quickly arrest the suspect. He has been taken and is being interrogated. Police are not yet able to say what the reason for the vandalism is. The director of the employment agency does not want to comment on Omroep West when asked.
Source: https://www.omroepwest.nl/nieuws/4480332/boze-meneer-slaat-tientallen-ruiten-van-bedrijf-en-autos-kapot
'Philips had known for some time that sleep apnea devices were potentially dangerous'
Philips had already had strong signals from 2015 that its apnea devices could potentially be dangerous for patients, but did not do enough with it at the time. That writes the Financieele Dagblad , following a report that the American regulator, the FDA, published last Friday. In a response, Philips states that this is an observation report and that the regulator has not yet established a violation. In June, Philips announced it was recalling between 3 and 4 million sleep apnea and ventilators worldwide due to health risks. The foam in those machines can crumble and harmful gases can be released. Both are potentially toxic and carcinogenic. Senior managers were already aware of the problems at the beginning of 2020 and possibly even earlier, the observation report says. However, the company only first reported the problems in April of this year.
220,000 complaints
The report from the US regulator also refers to an e-mail correspondence between Philips and the foam manufacturer in October 2015. In it, Philips would have written that there were problems and the manufacturer would have confirmed this. After that, according to the FDA, no proper research has been done into the problems. Philips announced in April that there was a problem with the devices, based on 1254 reports. But according to the FDA, there were many more complaints between 2008 and 2017, possibly 220,000. Philips states that for a long time there were not many complaints about the foam. The complaints that were there were handled as separate incidents.
Millions of devices
To tackle the problems, Philips has set aside half a billion euros. More than a hundred lawsuits have now been filed against Philips in the United States, the FD writes. In the Netherlands, four users have held Philips liable for health problems.
Soruce: https://nos.nl/artikel/2406223-philips-wist-al-langer-dat-slaapapneu-apparaten-mogelijk-gevaarlijk-waren
Ceiling of the Beek shopping center collapses over a length of 150 meters
Part of the ceiling of the Makado shopping center in Beek came down tonight. According to a spokesperson for the fire service, a malfunction occurred in the sprinkler system during work, which caused the water to flow.
That water ended up on the ceiling. The weight caused ceiling plates to collapse over a length of 150 metres.
Dotted with ceiling plates
Parts of the floor are covered with ceiling tiles and part of the shopping center has been flooded. "Fortunately, there were no injuries, but the damage is enormous," a spokesperson for the fire brigade told 1Limburg. The cleanup will take all night, according to the fire department. It is not yet clear whether the shops will be able to open again tomorrow.
Source: https://nos.nl/artikel/2407590-plafond-winkelcentrum-beek-stort-in-over-lengte-van-150-meter
The power outage at the Chemiepark near Delfzijl is over. The more than ten factories that have been shut down are cautiously starting up, reports the Groningen Safety Region. 'Starting up installations takes a lot of time. You can say that not much is being produced at the Chemical Park today', says spokesperson Harry Jasken of the Chemical Park. He previously said that shutting down the factories was an automatic precaution. "Everything is under control," he said Thursday morning.
Factories in 'safe mode'
Fire brigade spokesman Harmen Kuijer confirmed that there was 'no question of an emergency'. 'Factories go into a 'safe mode', so that processes are shut down. So there is no more production. The fact that we as emergency services have scaled up is mainly to be able to communicate better with each other in case things do go wrong.'
According to the Chemiepark website, the following companies are located there: Avantium, BioMCN, Delamine, DGR, Falck, JPB, J. Wildeman Storage & Logistics, Lubrizol, Nobian, Nouryon, Photanol, SGS, Stork, Teijin Aramid and Verwater Industrial Services.
Employees have to leave Chemical Park
All non-essential employees of affected companies at the Chemical Park were sent home on Thursday morning. No one else came to the site, the fire service said. 'The factories are now going to look individually at how they can start things up again,' says spokesman Kuijer. "That could take a few more hours."
No emergency power to start up all companies
Emergency power to run all factories in the Chemical Park again is not available. The companies therefore had to wait until the original power supply was restored. According to Chemiepark spokesperson Jasken, emergency power is available to allow certain processes to continue. 'For example, you don't want certain liquids to solidify. Then you can also remove the entire piping. So you want to keep it liquid.'
Source: https://www.rtvnoord.nl/nieuws/873567/stroomstoring-chemiepark-delfzijl-is-voorbij-maar-dit-loopt-wel-in-de-papieren-update
'Evil mister' smashes dozens of windows of companies and cars
WATERINGEN - According to the police, a 'very angry gentleman' smashed dozens of windows of an employment agency on Stoelmatter in Wateringen on Friday afternoon. The windows of cars that were near the building also had to suffer. The man has been arrested. It concerns employment agency Westflex. Photos show that holes have been punched into almost all windows on the ground floor of the building, as have a number of parked cars.
A police spokesperson said officers who responded to the report were able to quickly arrest the suspect. He has been taken and is being interrogated. Police are not yet able to say what the reason for the vandalism is. The director of the employment agency does not want to comment on Omroep West when asked.
Source: https://www.omroepwest.nl/nieuws/4480332/boze-meneer-slaat-tientallen-ruiten-van-bedrijf-en-autos-kapot
'Philips had known for some time that sleep apnea devices were potentially dangerous'
Philips had already had strong signals from 2015 that its apnea devices could potentially be dangerous for patients, but did not do enough with it at the time. That writes the Financieele Dagblad , following a report that the American regulator, the FDA, published last Friday. In a response, Philips states that this is an observation report and that the regulator has not yet established a violation. In June, Philips announced it was recalling between 3 and 4 million sleep apnea and ventilators worldwide due to health risks. The foam in those machines can crumble and harmful gases can be released. Both are potentially toxic and carcinogenic. Senior managers were already aware of the problems at the beginning of 2020 and possibly even earlier, the observation report says. However, the company only first reported the problems in April of this year.
220,000 complaints
The report from the US regulator also refers to an e-mail correspondence between Philips and the foam manufacturer in October 2015. In it, Philips would have written that there were problems and the manufacturer would have confirmed this. After that, according to the FDA, no proper research has been done into the problems. Philips announced in April that there was a problem with the devices, based on 1254 reports. But according to the FDA, there were many more complaints between 2008 and 2017, possibly 220,000. Philips states that for a long time there were not many complaints about the foam. The complaints that were there were handled as separate incidents.
Millions of devices
To tackle the problems, Philips has set aside half a billion euros. More than a hundred lawsuits have now been filed against Philips in the United States, the FD writes. In the Netherlands, four users have held Philips liable for health problems.
Soruce: https://nos.nl/artikel/2406223-philips-wist-al-langer-dat-slaapapneu-apparaten-mogelijk-gevaarlijk-waren
Ceiling of the Beek shopping center collapses over a length of 150 meters
Part of the ceiling of the Makado shopping center in Beek came down tonight. According to a spokesperson for the fire service, a malfunction occurred in the sprinkler system during work, which caused the water to flow.
That water ended up on the ceiling. The weight caused ceiling plates to collapse over a length of 150 metres.
Dotted with ceiling plates
Parts of the floor are covered with ceiling tiles and part of the shopping center has been flooded. "Fortunately, there were no injuries, but the damage is enormous," a spokesperson for the fire brigade told 1Limburg. The cleanup will take all night, according to the fire department. It is not yet clear whether the shops will be able to open again tomorrow.
Source: https://nos.nl/artikel/2407590-plafond-winkelcentrum-beek-stort-in-over-lengte-van-150-meter
Translated from Dutch to English with Google translate