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, collects and validates information on

dangerous goods Dangerous goods, abbreviated DG, are substances that when transported are a risk to health, safety, property or the environment. Certain dangerous goods that pose risks even when not being transported are known as hazardous materials ( syllabi ...

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), Katholieke Hogeschool Kempen 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 Bioactiv ...

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., wit ...

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 enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred to ...

. 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 A Pocket PC (P/PC, PPC) is a class of personal digital assistant (PDA) that runs the Windows Mobile or Windows Embedded Compact operating system that has some of the abilities of modern desktop PCs. The name was introduced by Microsoft in 200 ...

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 accidents 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. For ...

, 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 Reach or REACH may refer to: Companies and organizations * Reach plc, formerly Trinity Mirror, large British newspaper, magazine, and digital publisher * Reach Canada, an NGO in Canada * Reach Limited, an Asia Pacific cable network company ...

*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