Chemical disaster at Belaruskali

On October 31, 2025, a hydrochloric acid container burst at the industrial site of the Production Unit 4 of the Belaruskali potash fertilizer company. At least four workers were injured; though, according to available information, the number of injured workers, including those with less serious injuries, is larger.

Unofficial reports claim that eight people have been affected. Workers with serious chemical burns and injuries have been transferred to Minsk which confirms the gravity of their condition. 

The Ministry of Health reported that, based on the results of medical case conferences, it had been decided to transfer the injured workers to Minsk. 

“Following the necessary preparations and the stabilization of their condition, all four injured workers were transferred, using special resuscitation vehicles of the Minsk Regional Hospital with a traffic police escort, for admission to the National Burn Care Center and, for neurocritical care, to the Minsk Municipal Ambulance Clinic”, says the Ministry. 

According to official information, the cause of the disaster was the “rupture of an empty container”. However, another container standing nearby and filled with acid was also damaged. The specialized chemical services of the Ministry for Emergency Response arrived at the site. The local authorities and the plant management are trying to minimize the scale of the disaster, claiming that “the town of Saligorsk is outside of the chemical contamination zone”. 

The Investigative Committee experts work on site. The actual causes of the disaster have not been named: equipment wear and tear, process violations, failure to follow occupational safety and health instructions? 

There are no reports stating whether the injured workers had their PPEs on or if they had been trained to operate in situations of chemical spills. 

The so-called Belchimprofsoyuz (the Belarusian Chemical Workers’ Union – S.) has issued a standard statement which is in no way different from the official one. Their web-sites have no information on the disaster. The names of those responsible for the damaged equipment operation have not been made public either. There is a multitude of outstanding questions but the answers, as usual, will be tailored to suit the Belaruskali management and Minsk. 

In chemicals-heavy production where the observance of safety rules should be absolute, such accidents are the result of a systemic disregard for human lives. 

Naturally, there will be no independent investigation of what has caused the disaster, involving worker representatives and expert. There will be no independent technical expert conclusions and no reports from the sanitary services. 

If Belaruskali had a proper workplace union, the union would make itself a fully-fledged participant of the investigation and ensure that the results would be made public. It would demand the testing of all relevant containers and equipment. As it is, what we have today is a “union” keeping mum instead of defending workers’ interests. And keeping mum always means that the story repeats itself. 

Such disasters do not happen because “a container burst”, they happen because the system has long become rotten to the core: because of fear, lack of responsibility, and make-believe monitoring and supervision. The world practice has long proven the fact that wherever there is no independent union and effective worker control, disasters are inevitable, and it will be workers who suffer from them. As long as safety on production sites is maintained by ideological workers and the security service rather than engineers, the story will keep repeating itself, the only question being how many people will be injured next time. 

Salidarnast e.V. expresses its sincere condolences to the injured workers and their families. 

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