Headlines November
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Public Prosecution Service demands 25 million fine from chemical company Sabic
The Public Prosecution Service (OM) is demanding a fine of 25 million euros from the chemical company Sabic due to four incidents on the Chemelot site in Sittard-Geleen. The Public Prosecution Service calls the company "amateurish" when it comes to safety, 1Limburg quotes . The chemical company allegedly does not have its work processes in order, hardly supervises and does not learn from incidents. Sabic may respond substantively to all allegations during the trial next Wednesday.
Dead and injured
In 2016, a fire broke out at a naphtha cracker (a tank in which the oily naphtha is heated so that the raw material breaks down into smaller parts) of Sabic. Two people were seriously injured , one of them later died in hospital. According to the Public Prosecution Service, the company was negligent with work instructions, resulting in the maintenance employees being surprised by flammable liquid. In a previous incident in 2015, naphtha leaked from a tank storage facility. This caused odor nuisance to the environment and was dangerous for personnel. In another incident, isobutane gas leaked. This was not noticed by Sabic for days. Less than three years later, another accident occurred at the naphtha cracker. Then too, fluid unexpectedly spurted out. A maintenance technician suffered burns.
Chemelot
The Chemelot complex has sixty chemical companies, making it one of the largest chemical industrial estates in Europe. The chemical companies Sabic, Borealis Plastomers, OCI Nitrogen and AnQore are being prosecuted by the Public Prosecution Service due to dangerous incidents on the site. Chemelot is the umbrella permit holder on the site and is therefore being prosecuted. The court will spend nine days examining the question of who exactly is responsible for the incidents and accidents on the site in recent years. Decisions will not be made until the end of this year or early next year.
Source: https://nos.nl/artikel/2496868-openbaar-ministerie-eist-25-miljoen-boete-van-chemiebedrijf-sabic
Inland vessel inspection service has lost its license due to bias
The Dutch Inland Shipping Inspection Bureau (NBKB) recently lost its inspection license due to problems in its business operations and because the agency is biased. This is stated in a letter from outgoing Minister Mark Harbers of Infrastructure and Water Management to the House of Representatives.
The Accreditation Council (RvA) recently revoked the license for six months, but did not announce why. Following the suspension, the director of the NBKB resigned last week, writes Omroep Fryslân .
Brown fleet
The NBKB inspects an estimated 60 percent of all inland vessels, almost 8,000 of them. This also includes a large proportion of the ships in the so-called brown fleet. Last year fatal accidents occurred on two of those historic ships . It is not clear whether the ships in question have been inspected by the NBKB. The Dutch Safety Board already concluded this year that there is insufficient supervision of safety on board ships in the brown fleet.
Improvements
The NBKB must make improvements in the next six months. If this fails, the accreditation will be permanently withdrawn. The minister proposes, in exceptional cases, to extend certificates that will soon expire by six months. Skippers who should soon be inspected by the NBKB can still contact two other authorities.
Source: https://nos.nl/artikel/2497122-keuringsdienst-binnenvaartschepen-is-licentie-kwijt-vanwege-partijdigheid
Loss for Groningen municipality: introduction of new ict system failed
The municipality of Groningen has called off the switch to a new ICT system for employees of the Social Affairs and Work Department. This brings an end to a project that took years of preparation. Groningen municipality's services to citizens should be faster, easier and more transparent. That was the underlying idea behind the introduction of the new system for the Social Domain. This includes the Participation Act, the Social Support Act (Wmo) and the Youth Act. Besides social service officials, WIJ teams, for example, would also start working with it.
Confidential
What the failed project has cost so far is not clear. This is confidential information, the municipality said in a written response: 'We may come back to this later if necessary. The costs of switching to a new system/optimising current system cannot be estimated at the moment.' The new system should replace the current, outdated systems. The intention was that the Renewal of Social Domain Applications (VASD) would be introduced in stages from 1 March 2022, to be fully in use by 1 January 2023. But it never came to that. The Municipal Executive decided to pull the plug and leave everything as it was for the time being.
Not an overnight decision'
'This was a difficult decision in which we did not rush, especially as so many people have put so many years of time and energy into it,' says an internal statement in the hands of RTV Noord. This also suggests that the software developer, BlinQt from Ede in Gelderland, the Netherlands, and the municipality of Groningen have not yet parted ways: 'What still follows is a proper transfer of the project file. The intensive cooperation will be evaluated with BlinQt, where we will put serious time and effort into all the lessons we can and should learn from this.' BlinQt would not respond to questions from RTV Noord. 'We have yet to have talks with the municipality of Groningen,' is all operational manager Jochem Scheepmaker would say.
Source: https://www.rtvnoord.nl/nieuws/1088948/strop-voor-gemeente-groningen-invoering-nieuw-ict-systeem-is-mislukt
National malfunction of the alarm button system for the elderly due to cyber attack
Since yesterday there has been a malfunction with a Tunstall emergency button system, which can be used by the elderly and seriously ill when they need help. If they press the button, the report will not be received by the control room. The outage is nationwide. A Tunstall spokesperson cannot say how many people in total have been affected. The company said in a statement that it had fallen victim to a cyber attack. “We understand and share the concerns this brings,” the statement said .
L1 reports that in Limburg alone, approximately 3,000 people have been hit with an alarm button. The Limburg healthcare organization Envida therefore asks clients to call 043-3690690 in the event of an emergency. At Envida, which has its head office in Maastricht, the system is mainly used by the elderly. "But also by people who are very ill," a spokesperson explains to L1. These are people who live independently and are at risk of falling, for example.
Additional rounds
RTV Drenthe reports that clients who receive care at home through the care organization Treant have also been affected by the disruption. A spokesperson for Treant reports to the NOS that this concerns approximately 600 clients. Treant also says he does not know when the problem will be solved. Treant says he is trying to contact all clients who use the system. They are asked to call Treant in the event of an emergency and 112 in the event of an emergency. In addition, healthcare staff make extra rounds at institutions to keep an eye on things.
Source: https://nos.nl/artikel/2497671-landelijke-storing-alarmknoppensysteem-voor-ouderen-en-ernstig-zieken
From market leader to bankruptcy: 'Mismanagement cripples rubbish truck factory Geesinknorba'
Why did rubbish truck manufacturer Geesinknorba in Emmeloord have to file for bankruptcy? The company was once Europe's market leader, but now it is busy talking to potential candidates for a relaunch. How did it come to this? Several members of the works council (OR) are pointing at the company's management. It is Wednesday afternoon, just after three o'clock, when Geesinknorba staff gather in the company canteen. Trustee Seerp Gratama takes the floor and tells the staff that bankruptcy has been filed with the court. Uncertain times are now ahead for the company's employees. They have not yet received wages for the month of November. When they will get it is still unclear, and that with the holidays coming up. Pieter Beuzenberg of the FNV trade union says the UWV acts actively and is often quick on a company's doorstep to take over the workers' wage obligation. The receiver has asked the employees to continue working for the time being, pending a possible relaunch. The next few weeks should reveal whether that restart will succeed.
Mismanagement and weak management'
According to several members of the Works Council, Geesinknorba is a nice company. The atmosphere on the shop floor was resigned on Thursday, and they feel terrible about the bankruptcy. Yet they are clear about the cause: they believe it lies with the company's former CEO, say the general manager. "And the management is too weak," says employee Peter Jan Schatens. "They did not control the CEO properly." He is not the only one pointing at the former CEO. Works Council members Erik Sipkema and Anneus Vierhoven also do so. They accuse him of poor leadership. "Pure mismanagement," Vierhoven says. The former CEO left the company last month and stood before the court's Enterprise Chamber in a dispute with the company the same month. "He earned 200 euros an hour. They don't even earn that at Philips," Vierhoven said. The Works Council members say the former director failed to get a restructuring of the company off the ground. In December last year, a reorganisation was announced at Geesinknorba that would see the loss of 185 jobs. Trade unions FNV and CNV were also informed. "Nothing came of that," Schatens says. The Works Council members would have preferred managers to be replaced during a restructuring. But their position was never in question, despite the company having been running at a loss for years. The many acquisitions have also not done the nearly 150-year-old company any good, according to the OR members. Vierhoven also says thorough financial records are lacking. The trustee agrees. Vierhoven: "As a works council, we never had the figures this year. So we also had no opportunity for participation or dissent. Against the rules. But the figures were not ready for us, according to our finance director. Disappointing."
Going back 150 years
The company's history predates the creation of Emmeloord and Flevoland. In 1875, Jacobus Geesink starts building carriages in Weesp. And in 1915, he expanded operations to include waste collection. In 1968, Geesink moved operations to the then young town of Emmeloord after the Weesp premises were lost in a major fire. In 2000, Geesink merges with the Swedish company Norba to form Geesinknorba. The company focuses on designing, manufacturing and supplying various waste collection vehicles. Rear loaders, lift systems and rubbish trucks of all shapes and sizes is what they make. "The Geesinknorba rear loader with the big bucket, the big filler mouth," says Peter-Jan. That is what the workers are proud of, according to Peter-Jan Schatens. He adds that the machine is indestructible. "With us, for example, you push away a sofa set in one go, while the competitor takes three." Anneus Vierhoven says things went downhill with the company after the turn of the millennium, following a takeover by an American company. Over the past 15 years, Geesinknorba is acquired four more times. In 2009, the company is bought by the also American private equity house Platinum Equity. In 2012, investment company Mutares becomes the owner and in 2017 China-based Firion Investments acquires the company. Last year, the acquisition by Amsterdam-based Globitas puts the company back in Dutch hands.
Bad policies from the past
According to Geesinknorba director Jochem van Bueren, the company is still suffering from bad policies from the past. "Under different owners, the financial deficits have only increased. Last year, a last attempt was made to save the company with the help of an investor, but unfortunately this did not succeed." Geesinknorba employs some 400 people. With seven branches, the company operates in more than 40 countries. Around 300 people work at its headquarters in Emmeloord. They hope the company can make a restart.
Trustee Seerp Gratama expects that a restart is also possible. His bet is a restart for the entire company, but selling parts of the company is also a possibility. Within six weeks, the trustee hopes to have more clarity.
Source: https://www.omroepflevoland.nl/nieuws/357893/van-marktleider-naar-faillissement-wanbeleid-nekt-vuilniswagenfabriek-geesinknorba
The Public Prosecution Service (OM) is demanding a fine of 25 million euros from the chemical company Sabic due to four incidents on the Chemelot site in Sittard-Geleen. The Public Prosecution Service calls the company "amateurish" when it comes to safety, 1Limburg quotes . The chemical company allegedly does not have its work processes in order, hardly supervises and does not learn from incidents. Sabic may respond substantively to all allegations during the trial next Wednesday.
Dead and injured
In 2016, a fire broke out at a naphtha cracker (a tank in which the oily naphtha is heated so that the raw material breaks down into smaller parts) of Sabic. Two people were seriously injured , one of them later died in hospital. According to the Public Prosecution Service, the company was negligent with work instructions, resulting in the maintenance employees being surprised by flammable liquid. In a previous incident in 2015, naphtha leaked from a tank storage facility. This caused odor nuisance to the environment and was dangerous for personnel. In another incident, isobutane gas leaked. This was not noticed by Sabic for days. Less than three years later, another accident occurred at the naphtha cracker. Then too, fluid unexpectedly spurted out. A maintenance technician suffered burns.
Chemelot
The Chemelot complex has sixty chemical companies, making it one of the largest chemical industrial estates in Europe. The chemical companies Sabic, Borealis Plastomers, OCI Nitrogen and AnQore are being prosecuted by the Public Prosecution Service due to dangerous incidents on the site. Chemelot is the umbrella permit holder on the site and is therefore being prosecuted. The court will spend nine days examining the question of who exactly is responsible for the incidents and accidents on the site in recent years. Decisions will not be made until the end of this year or early next year.
Source: https://nos.nl/artikel/2496868-openbaar-ministerie-eist-25-miljoen-boete-van-chemiebedrijf-sabic
Inland vessel inspection service has lost its license due to bias
The Dutch Inland Shipping Inspection Bureau (NBKB) recently lost its inspection license due to problems in its business operations and because the agency is biased. This is stated in a letter from outgoing Minister Mark Harbers of Infrastructure and Water Management to the House of Representatives.
The Accreditation Council (RvA) recently revoked the license for six months, but did not announce why. Following the suspension, the director of the NBKB resigned last week, writes Omroep Fryslân .
Brown fleet
The NBKB inspects an estimated 60 percent of all inland vessels, almost 8,000 of them. This also includes a large proportion of the ships in the so-called brown fleet. Last year fatal accidents occurred on two of those historic ships . It is not clear whether the ships in question have been inspected by the NBKB. The Dutch Safety Board already concluded this year that there is insufficient supervision of safety on board ships in the brown fleet.
Improvements
The NBKB must make improvements in the next six months. If this fails, the accreditation will be permanently withdrawn. The minister proposes, in exceptional cases, to extend certificates that will soon expire by six months. Skippers who should soon be inspected by the NBKB can still contact two other authorities.
Source: https://nos.nl/artikel/2497122-keuringsdienst-binnenvaartschepen-is-licentie-kwijt-vanwege-partijdigheid
Loss for Groningen municipality: introduction of new ict system failed
The municipality of Groningen has called off the switch to a new ICT system for employees of the Social Affairs and Work Department. This brings an end to a project that took years of preparation. Groningen municipality's services to citizens should be faster, easier and more transparent. That was the underlying idea behind the introduction of the new system for the Social Domain. This includes the Participation Act, the Social Support Act (Wmo) and the Youth Act. Besides social service officials, WIJ teams, for example, would also start working with it.
Confidential
What the failed project has cost so far is not clear. This is confidential information, the municipality said in a written response: 'We may come back to this later if necessary. The costs of switching to a new system/optimising current system cannot be estimated at the moment.' The new system should replace the current, outdated systems. The intention was that the Renewal of Social Domain Applications (VASD) would be introduced in stages from 1 March 2022, to be fully in use by 1 January 2023. But it never came to that. The Municipal Executive decided to pull the plug and leave everything as it was for the time being.
Not an overnight decision'
'This was a difficult decision in which we did not rush, especially as so many people have put so many years of time and energy into it,' says an internal statement in the hands of RTV Noord. This also suggests that the software developer, BlinQt from Ede in Gelderland, the Netherlands, and the municipality of Groningen have not yet parted ways: 'What still follows is a proper transfer of the project file. The intensive cooperation will be evaluated with BlinQt, where we will put serious time and effort into all the lessons we can and should learn from this.' BlinQt would not respond to questions from RTV Noord. 'We have yet to have talks with the municipality of Groningen,' is all operational manager Jochem Scheepmaker would say.
Source: https://www.rtvnoord.nl/nieuws/1088948/strop-voor-gemeente-groningen-invoering-nieuw-ict-systeem-is-mislukt
National malfunction of the alarm button system for the elderly due to cyber attack
Since yesterday there has been a malfunction with a Tunstall emergency button system, which can be used by the elderly and seriously ill when they need help. If they press the button, the report will not be received by the control room. The outage is nationwide. A Tunstall spokesperson cannot say how many people in total have been affected. The company said in a statement that it had fallen victim to a cyber attack. “We understand and share the concerns this brings,” the statement said .
L1 reports that in Limburg alone, approximately 3,000 people have been hit with an alarm button. The Limburg healthcare organization Envida therefore asks clients to call 043-3690690 in the event of an emergency. At Envida, which has its head office in Maastricht, the system is mainly used by the elderly. "But also by people who are very ill," a spokesperson explains to L1. These are people who live independently and are at risk of falling, for example.
Additional rounds
RTV Drenthe reports that clients who receive care at home through the care organization Treant have also been affected by the disruption. A spokesperson for Treant reports to the NOS that this concerns approximately 600 clients. Treant also says he does not know when the problem will be solved. Treant says he is trying to contact all clients who use the system. They are asked to call Treant in the event of an emergency and 112 in the event of an emergency. In addition, healthcare staff make extra rounds at institutions to keep an eye on things.
Source: https://nos.nl/artikel/2497671-landelijke-storing-alarmknoppensysteem-voor-ouderen-en-ernstig-zieken
From market leader to bankruptcy: 'Mismanagement cripples rubbish truck factory Geesinknorba'
Why did rubbish truck manufacturer Geesinknorba in Emmeloord have to file for bankruptcy? The company was once Europe's market leader, but now it is busy talking to potential candidates for a relaunch. How did it come to this? Several members of the works council (OR) are pointing at the company's management. It is Wednesday afternoon, just after three o'clock, when Geesinknorba staff gather in the company canteen. Trustee Seerp Gratama takes the floor and tells the staff that bankruptcy has been filed with the court. Uncertain times are now ahead for the company's employees. They have not yet received wages for the month of November. When they will get it is still unclear, and that with the holidays coming up. Pieter Beuzenberg of the FNV trade union says the UWV acts actively and is often quick on a company's doorstep to take over the workers' wage obligation. The receiver has asked the employees to continue working for the time being, pending a possible relaunch. The next few weeks should reveal whether that restart will succeed.
Mismanagement and weak management'
According to several members of the Works Council, Geesinknorba is a nice company. The atmosphere on the shop floor was resigned on Thursday, and they feel terrible about the bankruptcy. Yet they are clear about the cause: they believe it lies with the company's former CEO, say the general manager. "And the management is too weak," says employee Peter Jan Schatens. "They did not control the CEO properly." He is not the only one pointing at the former CEO. Works Council members Erik Sipkema and Anneus Vierhoven also do so. They accuse him of poor leadership. "Pure mismanagement," Vierhoven says. The former CEO left the company last month and stood before the court's Enterprise Chamber in a dispute with the company the same month. "He earned 200 euros an hour. They don't even earn that at Philips," Vierhoven said. The Works Council members say the former director failed to get a restructuring of the company off the ground. In December last year, a reorganisation was announced at Geesinknorba that would see the loss of 185 jobs. Trade unions FNV and CNV were also informed. "Nothing came of that," Schatens says. The Works Council members would have preferred managers to be replaced during a restructuring. But their position was never in question, despite the company having been running at a loss for years. The many acquisitions have also not done the nearly 150-year-old company any good, according to the OR members. Vierhoven also says thorough financial records are lacking. The trustee agrees. Vierhoven: "As a works council, we never had the figures this year. So we also had no opportunity for participation or dissent. Against the rules. But the figures were not ready for us, according to our finance director. Disappointing."
Going back 150 years
The company's history predates the creation of Emmeloord and Flevoland. In 1875, Jacobus Geesink starts building carriages in Weesp. And in 1915, he expanded operations to include waste collection. In 1968, Geesink moved operations to the then young town of Emmeloord after the Weesp premises were lost in a major fire. In 2000, Geesink merges with the Swedish company Norba to form Geesinknorba. The company focuses on designing, manufacturing and supplying various waste collection vehicles. Rear loaders, lift systems and rubbish trucks of all shapes and sizes is what they make. "The Geesinknorba rear loader with the big bucket, the big filler mouth," says Peter-Jan. That is what the workers are proud of, according to Peter-Jan Schatens. He adds that the machine is indestructible. "With us, for example, you push away a sofa set in one go, while the competitor takes three." Anneus Vierhoven says things went downhill with the company after the turn of the millennium, following a takeover by an American company. Over the past 15 years, Geesinknorba is acquired four more times. In 2009, the company is bought by the also American private equity house Platinum Equity. In 2012, investment company Mutares becomes the owner and in 2017 China-based Firion Investments acquires the company. Last year, the acquisition by Amsterdam-based Globitas puts the company back in Dutch hands.
Bad policies from the past
According to Geesinknorba director Jochem van Bueren, the company is still suffering from bad policies from the past. "Under different owners, the financial deficits have only increased. Last year, a last attempt was made to save the company with the help of an investor, but unfortunately this did not succeed." Geesinknorba employs some 400 people. With seven branches, the company operates in more than 40 countries. Around 300 people work at its headquarters in Emmeloord. They hope the company can make a restart.
Trustee Seerp Gratama expects that a restart is also possible. His bet is a restart for the entire company, but selling parts of the company is also a possibility. Within six weeks, the trustee hopes to have more clarity.
Source: https://www.omroepflevoland.nl/nieuws/357893/van-marktleider-naar-faillissement-wanbeleid-nekt-vuilniswagenfabriek-geesinknorba
Translated from Dutch to English with Google translate