Brussels, 5th of February 2014. Umicore, together with an external expert, has examined the cause of the tragic accident in Olen on 23 January in which two Umicore employees lost their lives. A preliminary report has been submitted to the Health and Safety Inspectorate.
The initial findings indicate that an unexpected accumulation of cobalt metal led to a build-up of hydrogen in a storage tank. This exploded during maintenance work being carried out by the two employees on 23 January. The employees involved made no mistakes during their work. The necessary lessons will be learned from the accident and, wherever needed, improvements will be made to further reduce the risk of a similar accident happening in future, either in Olen or elsewhere in the Umicore group.
Umicore will continue to provide full support to the authorities in their on-going investigation and cannot give any further information about the accident.
Brussels, 24th of January 2014. At 9: 50 a.m. Thursday morning a tragic accident took place at Umicore in Olen whereby two employees lost their lives. They were performing maintenance work on a storage tank. We are currently working together with authorities to determine the cause of the accident. It is too early to make any further statements about the cause of the accident.
Umicore strongly regrets this incident. All of our attention goes to the victims, their family members and co-workers. The family members of the victims were informed as soon as possible and Umicore offers them additional support. We are also supporting staff during this traumatic event.
At no time was there any danger to nearby residents or the environment. Production has continued albeit at a lower level yesterday and today. There should be no overall impact.
Umicore in Olen, employs 950 employees and manufactures and sells products, primarily on the basis of nickel, cobalt, germanium and for a wide range of applications.
Accident at Olen site (Belgium)
At approximately 10 am today, an accident happened at Umicore’s Olen site, which led to the death of two employees. Our thoughts go to the relatives and co-workers of the deceased colleagues.
At the moment we have no further details. An investigation has already started to determine the cause of incident together with the authorities.
We are providing whatever support we can to the families and our co-workers.
