Bucharest at
1st of March, 2021

A new guide to the safe storage of fertilizers for agriculture is available for farmers and distributors.

Azomure and General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, in partnership with the Department for Emergency Situations, presented today the latest informative material with regards to safe storage and use of fertilizers for agriculture.

Guide of good practices for safe storage and use of fertilizers is a set of tips and recommendations developed by Azomures in collaboration with IGSU, in accordance with indications from Fertilizers Europe (European Fertilizer Producers Association) and current European and national legislation.

Purpose of Good Practice Guide for the safe storage and use of fertilizers on the farm is to provide support to farmers and to highlight safety issues that arise when using ammonium nitrate based fertilizers on the farm and, in particular, to provide advice on:

• Personal safety during the handling of products / fertilizers;
• Good practices for indoor and outdoor storage;
• Ensuring security when storing fertilizers;
• Minimizing the impact on the environment during storage and use;
• The importance of reading product labels and manufacturers' safety data sheets.

"The guide is intended to prevent serious incidents. Prevention is very important and puts us in a situation where we do not need to respond to an emergency. Azomures accepted the collaboration with us and even had the initiative to elaborate this guide, and here, it materializes on the Civil Protection Day ", said dr. Raed Arafat, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Head of the Emergency Situations Department.

“Together with IGSU we have prepared this guide to cover the need for information needed by distributors and users of our products, farmers. We have included information to reduce the probability of an accident on the farm or in the warehouse. The storage guide is developed in accordance with the specifications of the "Product Stewardship" program of Fertilizers Europe (European Fertilizer Producers Association), and our goal is that each type of fertilizer we produce in Targu Mures to be transported, stored and used in safety ", said Harri Kiiski, general manager of Azomures.

IGSU Inspector, general Dan Iamandi stated that “this guide has already been disseminated to all subordinate units, to all County Inspectorates for Emergency Situations that will carry out preventive activities in all locations where such ammonium nitrate-based substances are stored ".

The guide also contains the most important measures to be taken in case of fire and decomposition of fertilizers, as well as information about the two entities that collaborated to make the material - IGSU and Azomures.

15,000 copies of the guide will be distributed to Romanian farmers starting with March 2021, through the subordinated units of IGSU in each county and through the commercial network of Azomures consisting of 37 distributors.

Azomures Press Office