An independant inquiry will be held into the leaking of a poisonous chemical over the Newcastle suburb of Stockton.
Former New South Wales senior public servant Brendan O’Reilly will conduct the inquiry announced by Premier Barry O’Farrell on Wednesday afternoon.
The company responsible Orica, and the state government have been under the pump for nearly a week, after it took nearly three days to inform the residents of Stockton they’d been exposed to hexavalent chromium.
“I want to ensure there is no repeat of the delays that have characterised this matter,” Mr O’Farrell said in a statement.
“The inquiry will look at apparent delays in Orica’s reporting of the incident to the appropriate authorities and whether or not legislative changes are required to improve the timeliness of reporting.
“I am also unhappy about current procedures that resulted in delays in informing both the government and the public about the incident and the inquiry will also look at this issue and how improvements can be made.”
The inquiry will look at ways to improve a chemical company’s reporting requirements in the event of a leak and ways to improve communication to the public of a pollution incident.
Mr O’Reilly is due to report back to the Premier by September 30.
