The Brandweerinformatiecentrum voor gevaarlijke stoffen/Information Centre for Dangerous Goods (BIG), established in the

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

city of

Geel Geel () is a city located in the Belgian province of Antwerp, which acquired city status in the 1980s. It comprises Central-Geel which is constituted of 4 old parishes a/o towns: Sint-Amand, Sint-Dimpna, Holven and Elsum. Further on around the ce ...

, collects and validates information on dangerous goods.

History

BIG was established in 1979 following a number of serious environmental disasters in the mid-seventies. The initial partners were the town of Geel (represented by the local

fire service A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression se ...

Katholieke Hogeschool Kempen The Katholieke Hogeschool Kempen (KH Kempen, KHK) was a university college where students could obtain a professional bachelor's degree (3 year education) in several domains. There was also the opportunity to study for a master's degree in engineeri ...

and the Applied Sciences department of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. The aim was to develop an information centre for dangerous goods that could be consulted by fire brigades.

Database

Every year they publish a selection of their

chemical database A chemical database is a database specifically designed to store chemical information. This information is about chemical and crystal structures, spectra, reactions and syntheses, and thermophysical data. Types of chemical databases Bioactivi ...

on DVD. This selection, called BIG Kaleidos Database, consists of validated data concerning 20,000

chemical substance A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., w ...

s and mixtures available in 13 languages. Subscriptions include annual updates. The database contains more than 250 properties, including physico-chemical properties, safety and prevention measures, and transport

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolled bill, enrolling, enactment of a bill, enacting, or promulgation, promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous Government, governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law i ...

. Single-user and network versions are available. At an incident scene it is important to identify the substance as soon as possible and to take the appropriate measures. Information and communication play a vital role. For this reason, BIG developed a Pocket PC application, the Kaleidos Pocket.

Emergency Response Service

BIG is a 24-hour emergency centre for responding to accidents with dangerous goods. In these situations, the supplied information is always free. Belgian and foreign

emergency services Emergency services and rescue services are organizations that ensure public safety and health by addressing and resolving different emergencies. Some of these agencies exist solely for addressing certain types of emergencies, while others deal w ...

use this service at

chemical accident A chemical accident is the unintentional release of one or more chemical hazard substances which could harm human health and the environment. Such events include fires, explosions, leakages or release of toxic or hazardous materials that can cause ...

s scenes. For companies there is a charge for emergency service. Those companies can mention the BIG emergency number on their documents and packaging. Emergency centre: +32 (0) 14 58 45 45

Safety Data Sheet

BIG develops Safety Data Sheets in accordance with the applicable EU legislation (according to (EC) no. 1907/2006 (REACH, Article 31 and annex II). The sheets are available in several languages. The SAS layouts are also available in accordance with local legislation and the new EU GHS/CLP classification.

Consultancy

BIG can help companies with environmental and other legislation concerning dangerous goods (

European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road ADR, formally the Agreement of 30 September 1957 concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road is a 1957 United Nations treaty that governs transnational transport of hazardous materials. "ADR" is derived from the French name f ...

, International Air Transport Association, International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code,

Regulations concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Rail Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. Fo ...

, etc.). Recently BIG has also started an outsourcing service.

REACH

*Inventory of substances, mixtures and articles *Pre-registration *Data Gap Analysis *Developing chemical safety reports and the technical dossier *Evaluation test data *Exposure and risk Characterisation * PBT/vPvB-assessment *IUCLID 5 *Safety data sheet according to REACH *Authorisation application *Consultancy for the SIEF/consortium *To help authorities to develop annex XV dossiers *Third party representative for EU manufacturers *Only representative for non-EU manufacturers

External links

Website Brandweerinformatiecentrum voor gevaarlijke stoffen
Warning systems Chemical safety Emergency management International organisations based in Belgium Organisations based in Antwerp Province Geel