AIC at 20: Responding to the Beirut fertiliser plant explosion
As AIC marks 20 years as the UK agri-supply industry’s leading trade association, we're looking back at some of its greatest achievements since it was founded in 2003.
Each week throughout 2023, we’ll explore a major achievement where AIC represented its Member businesses, promoted the benefits of modern commercial agriculture in the UK, and supported collaboration throughout the food chain.
This week we look back at how AIC led an industry response in the wake of the devastating Beirut fertiliser plant explosion in Lebanon, which happened exactly three years ago.
Deadly blast
On 4 August 2020, approximately 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate (AN) exploded at a fertiliser plant in Beirut.
The huge blast, which happened in the port area of Lebanon's capital, sent shock waves across the country, killing more than 200 people and injuring many thousands more.
The explosion was found to have been caused by unsafe storage at the facility and was triggered by a fire which broke out at the site.
This major incident raised fears about similar stockpiles of AN fertiliser held in the UK and the safety of its storage.
AIC represented the industry by fielding media enquiries, clearly explaining the rigorous safety and security procedures in place to ensure that such a catastrophe could not happen in the UK.
In doing so, AIC reduced pressure on individual Member businesses to respond to the story, controlling the flow of information to disseminate a measured, consistent, and reliable message on behalf of the entire fertiliser industry.
This helped to reassure the public about the UK's fertiliser safety standards.
Since 2006, the Fertiliser Industry Assurance Scheme (FIAS) has been managed by AIC Services to make sure that every step of the supply chain is secure, therefore minimising the public safety risks of such incidents and making sure that fertilisers do not fall into the hands of criminals.
Find out more about FIAS and the Fertiliser sector by reading the related article, and by watching the videos below.
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Visit the AIC at 20 webpage for more content like this.
Authors
Oli Hill
As Head of Communications, Oli creates and oversees the content published on AIC's website, emails, Member briefings, print publications, and social media. A qualified multimedia journalist, he previously spent six years working at Farmers Weekly magazine as a Senior Reporter on the arable team, and latterly as Community Editor. More recently he was Communications Manager at Red Tractor.
Jo Gilbertson
Jo Gilbertson is AIC’s Head of Fertiliser and is based at our Head Office in Peterborough.
Jo is responsible for the management and co-ordination of all matters relating to the production and distribution of fertilisers on behalf of Members.
Graduating with a BSc (Hons) in Environmental Health, he has additional post graduate qualifications in air pollution control, health and safety, advanced negotiation skills, and quality assurance management.
Roberta Reeve
Roberta Reeve is Technical Manager for AIC Services. She is based at AIC Head Office, Peterborough and is responsible for the management and coordination of the AIC assurance schemes.