Lubrizol ordered to secure its Rouen site against the risk of explosions

Lubrizol France has been ordered to comply with regulations to prevent explosions at its Rouen facility, the Union of Victims of Lubrizol association warned on Wednesday, May 14, five years after the massive fire at the site.

By a decree of May 5, 2025, consulted by Agence France-Presse (AFP), the Seine-Maritime prefecture ordered the Lubrizol company to "implement electrical equipment compliant with ATEX [explosive atmosphere] explosion risk zones before June 30, 2025."

According to this document, in 2019, the company Lubrizol France carried out an audit of its Rouen factory, which manufactures lubricant additives, revealing "377 non-compliant items of equipment, including 152 categorized as priority 1: to be removed as soon as possible." However, during an inspection visit on March 13, 2025, of this Seveso "high threshold" classified site, agents from the Regional Directorate for the Environment, Planning and Housing "found that only 87 [out of 377] non-conformities have been removed since 2019, including only one in priority 1."

"At Lubrizol, our top priority is to work safely and responsibly," Lubrizol France responded to AFP, "our equipment is regularly assessed internally in accordance with applicable production and safety standards."

For Christophe Holleville, secretary of the Union of Victims of Lubrizol, "this audit dates from 2019, it's been going on for five years and we're still giving Lubrizol a deadline without daily penalties, nothing changes."

"One has to wonder why, after the 2019 fire, Lubrizol is waiting for a formal notice to bring its factory up to standard," he continued. "I'm thinking particularly of their employees, who are usually the first victims of an ATEX explosion; they should be protected."

On the night of September 25-26, 2019, the combustion of nearly 10,000 tons of chemicals caused no casualties but caused coughing, respiratory discomfort, irritation, sore throat, nausea and vomiting among the population.

A follow-up report published in September 2024 by researchers from the University of Rouen highlighted the presence of eight substances classified as "carcinogenic and mutagenic, endocrine disruptors and/or reprotoxic, or toxic to aquatic organisms" in the environment "linked only to fire".