For our English audience: This is a follow-up press release to a fire incident at the Kempen site in Germany. Some occurrence information was previously published in German only. You can find them all at www.ihr-nachbar.byk.com
Investigations into the cause of the fire in Kempen are ongoing - securing of the accident site and cleanup work are making good progress
Kempen/Wesel, August 28, 2023 - Following successful firefighting by the fire department and emergency services at the BYK plant in Kempen, the accident site is currently being secured and the cleanup is initiated.
Investigations are currently underway by external and internal experts and the investigating authorities. As the investigation has not yet been completed, the technical experts are not yet in a position to make an official statement on the cause of the fire.
"Our thanks go to the fire department and all the emergency services involved, whose rapid intervention quickly brought the fire back under control. We are glad that the firefighters who were slightly injured in the operation have already recovered. The information and alerting chains worked very well. The cooperation with the fire department and all the emergency services and authorities involved on site was also excellent - so we would like to expressly praise and thank all the emergency services," says Dr. Michael Bessel, Head of Site Kempen, thanking all those involved for their exemplary efforts.
In close coordination with the authorities, BYK is already planning all necessary steps to rebuild production in parallel with the ongoing investigations in order to be able to return to normal operations as quickly as possible.
In parallel, the impact of this event on customers is being examined. "We are currently working out a plan to minimize the impact of the fire on our customers. To this end, we are already in communication with our customers and are trying to process any delivery orders via our decentralized international production sites and central warehouses to minimize the possible impact of the fire on our customers. Considering this, we would like to thank our customers for their understanding and active cooperation," says Matthias Kramer, BYK Managing Director Production.
On the neighborhood page www.ihr-nachbar.byk.com you will always find up-to-date information on the status of the project.
BYK is a leading global supplier of specialty chemicals. The company’s innovative additives and differentiated solutions optimize product and material properties as well as production and application processes. Amongst other things, BYK additives improve scratch resistance and surface gloss, the mechanical strength or flow behavior of materials, and properties such as UV- and light stability or flame retardancy. In the field of quality assurance, BYK’s measuring and testing instruments serve to effectively assess appearance and physical properties.
The company’s customers include manufacturers of coatings and printing inks, plastics, adhesives and sealants, as well as cleaners, floor coatings, and lubricants. BYK additives are also successfully used in the construction chemistry, oil and gas, and foundry industries.
BYK has a global network of subsidiaries and operates production sites in Germany (Wesel, Kempen, Schkopau, Moosburg, Geretsried), the Netherlands (Deventer, Denekamp, Nijverdal), and the UK (Widnes), in the USA (Wallingford, Chester, Columbia, Earth City, Gonzales, Louisville, Pittsford), and in China (Shanghai, Tongling).
The company is part of the ALTANA Group and employs a workforce of more than 2,500 people worldwide.
