Foam Extinguishers to be phased out – Queensland
11/04/2019
On Friday July 8th, the Queensland State Government announced that it will ban the future use of all chemical firefighting foams in the state.
The ban is a result of the discovery of recent land contamination issues that occurred at the Oakey Defence Base outside of Toowoomba.
Environment Minister Dr Steven Miles, said that his department was implementing the strict policy with respect to firefighting foams and their environmental impact.
“Queensland is adamant that firefighting foams containing highly persistent organic pollutants including perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) implicated in the contamination of the Oakey Defence base need to be phased out” Dr Miles said.
Dr Miles has stated there are not that many industry sectors that would use them, but mainly have them in emergency responses systems where they are stored in canisters that may not have been used.
The Government will require that any existing stocks of foams containing PFOS and PFOA are withdrawn from service at commercial and industrial premises, and similar products phased out and replaced, as soon as practicable with more sustainable alternatives.
“This policy is about doing what is right for current and future generations based on the growing knowledge of these chemicals that we have today.
“EHP will monitor compliance with this policy at business facilities where Queensland laws apply,” he said.
Dr Miles warned that failure to comply will result in enforcement action and that businesses will need to comply with the policy.
For more information please see the full Queensland Government statement: