External emergency plans

According to the Rescue Act, rescue departments must draw up external emergency plans for sites posing a particular hazard in cooperation with the relevant business and industrial operators.

The external emergency plan defines the measures which allow for accidents and their consequences to be limited and managed with maximum efficiency.

In addition, the rescue department must:

• hear the public;
• cooperate with the authorities in its own area;
• provide information on the plan;
• organise exercises.

There are seven sites in the Länsi-Uusimaa region where statutory cooperation exercises are organised.

Algol Chemicals Oy

Algol Chemicals Oy imports and sells chemicals for industrial purposes. The company receives, stores and further dispatches chemicals, selling the product by number in the original transport packaging. The company’s storage facilities contain both non-classified chemicals and chemicals classified as dangerous. Classified chemicals are not packed or otherwise handled in the area.

Potential hazards

A dangerous situation is the most likely to occur during loading or unloading if there is a chemical leak or a chemical container breaks. Such a situation will not have effects outside the warehouse area. If several chemical containers break at once of if there is a fire, there can occur thermal radiation and health impacts in the immediate surroundings.

Further information in company's website.

Fermion

Fermion’s plant in Hanko in produces Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) used for example in cardiovascular medication, asthma medication, Parkinson’s medication and anti-rejection medication. The production is batch-based. The plant manufactures 10–20 APIs that usually require the synthetisation of several different intermediate products.

The plant’s total annual output is 200–400 tonnes of APIs. If the intermediate products are counted, the annual output is many times larger. The products are mostly solid, organic compounds, ground to a desired particle size.

Potential hazards

An extensive fire could cause a dangerous situation also outside the plant. In such situations, significant gas emissions classified as harmful or dangerous may occur. A breakage of a chemical transport container may also cause gas emissions whose danger zone extends 1.7 km around the plant.

Further information in company's website.

OY Forcit AB

OY FORCIT AB manufactures, handles and stores explosives (explosive agents, detonators, fuses) and dangerous chemicals at its Hanko plant. Its operations include quality control detonations and burning of waste that contains explosives. 

Potential hazards

Accidents and dangerous situations may occur at the explosive manufacturing plant when explosives are manufactured, handled or stored, and when nitric acid and sulphuric acid are stored and handled.

The impacts of a potential accident would mainly be limited to the manufacturing plant and the surrounding safety zone. Examples of accidents include explosions, fires or acid leaks.

Further information in company's website. 

Port of Hanko Ltd

The operations in the Western Harbour of Hanko involve the handling of transport units, such as containers and semi-trailers, some of which contain substances classified as dangerous. Cargo units are handled by the two stevedoring companies operating in the area, Oy Hangö Stevedoring Ab and Stevena Oy. No dangerous substances are stored in the area.

Potential hazards

Damage to a cargo unit may cause leaks or fires. Extensive leaks or fires may cause dangerous situations that extend outside the port area. In such situations, significant gas emissions classified as harmful or dangerous may occur. The size of the dangerous area depends on the nature of the leaking or burning substance.

Further information in company's website.

Upinniemi Garrison

The Naval Depot stores explosives for peacetime and wartime needs. It employs technical measures and works meticulously to ensure that its operations do not cause any danger to people or the surrounding nature. It is nonetheless possible that accidents may occur. The Upinniemi Garrison also stores liquid fuels needed for its operations and property maintenance.

The production plant is a military area, marked with fences and warning signs. The area is guarded around the clock. No one may enter the area without an appropriate permit. Guards and property maintenance personnel guard the area around the clock with the help of various electronic control systems.

Potential hazards

In explosion accidents, blast pressure may cause material and debris to fall up to 2 kilometres away. 

The blast pressure itself may affect areas within a radius of several kilometres. In case of fire, poisonous combustion gases may spread even more than a kilometre away depending on the wind conditions. 

The Commander of the Finnish Defence Forces Logistics Command is in charge of the production plant’s operations. Tel. 0299 800 (telephone switchboard). Further information in the Finnish Defence Forces website.

Suomen Ilotulitus Oy

Suomen Ilotulitus Oy is an importer and wholesaler of fireworks and special effects. It also holds fireworks displays.

Its warehouse is in Teutari, Lohja, storing consumer fireworks in classes 1.4G and 1.3G.

Potential hazards

A fire in the fireworks warehouse produces large amounts of smoke and causes a fire hazard in the surrounding area due to burning flying objects. In case of fire, the environment is also affected by thermal radiation, loud noises and bright flashes that may be visible even from a long distance.

Further information in company's website, in Finnish.

Neste Oyj
Ingå warehouse

Neste’s flammable liquids warehouse is in the village of Joddböle in Ingå. The area surrounding the warehouse is mostly agricultural land. The warehouse is about 800 m away from the Kalasatama harbour. Ships transporting flammable liquids arrive in the warehouse’s port in the eastern part of the Fagerviken bay. The warehouses and the related equipment are protected with alarm systems.

Dangerous situations may be caused by pipe leaks during loading or unloading of containers, overfilling of containers, a fire or a massive fuel leak in the sea from a container ship. Fires may cause harmful combustion gases to spread in the environment. A fuel leak could harm the environment and cause damage to the residents of the area.

Further information in company's website.