March 20, 2010

Process Safety - Phosgene hose leak update

A news article on the EPA investigation of the phosgene hose leak at DuPont's Belle, US facility in January 2010,indicate the following:
1. "This type of hose should be replaced every two months "due to the extremely hazardous nature of phosgene," EPA said. At the time of the Belle plant leak, the hose had been in use for seven months.The hose was 5 months overdue for replacement"
2. "The flexible, braided-steel hose was also the wrong kind of equipment to use in the first place because of the extremely hazardous nature of phosgene"
3."EPA also said that this type of hose should be installed within six months of its fabrication. This particular hose was fabricated in May 2008, but was not installed by DuPont until June 2009".
DuPont is world renowned for their high safety standards and I wonder what went wrong.
Read the full article in this link

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