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New controls call on life-threatening gas
Business news from the Lancashire Evening Post
The managing director of a Lancashire-based firm has said controlling the life-threatening gas emitted from stored slurry must become a top priority health and safety issue for all UK livestock farmers.
Liz Russell, of Barton company Envirosystems, has urged industry leaders to introduce new safety measures concerning stored slurry.
Her call follows the tragedy in Northern Ireland where three members of a family died as a result of inhaling hydrogen sulphide from a slurry store.
These safety measures include appropriate treatment with an inoculant to remove life-threatening risks.
Liz, from Barnacre, near Garstang, said: “The pH of the slurry is the key issue in reducing the risk from hydrogen sulphide poisoning. If the slurry is alkaline the toxic gas concentration doesn’t occur.”
She recommended treating slurry with SlurryBugs, a product launched by the business in 2003.
She said: “Treatment with SlurryBugs will create a high pH in the slurry because of the fermentation of the aerobic bacteria that are present.
“Some materials used for cubicle bedding, and which contain sulphides, will generate a low pH level.
“That in turn will create anaerobic slurry and the production of toxic gases such as hydrogen sulphide.
“This risk was highlighted in a statement by the Environment Agency earlier this year.
“Once the above chemical reaction takes place within the slurry, great care needs to be taken when pumping because even if it has been treated with a biological slurry additive, the slurry will still have a low pH and the dangerous gases will continue to be emitted.”
Comprised of a formulation of freeze-dried bacteria and enzymes in powder form, SlurryBugs improves the nutrient retention of slurry and enables farmers to make significant savings in fertiliser costs.
But its value in rendering slurry a safe material, provided it is not mixed with certain bedding cow bedding materials, is also being realised.
Liz said: “As the safety of slurry is now becoming such a major health and safety issue for all livestock producers, SlurryBugs clearly has an important role to play.
“But the emission of poisonous gases will continue to pose a serious threat to farmers using bedding materials when they find their way into the slurry store.”
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Sunday 19 May 2013
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