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December 11, 2010

Plant explosion kills two - pay heed to your process near misses and incidents

A news article mentions that two workers were killed and two others were seriously injured in an explosion and fire at a West Virginia chemical plant on Thursday afternoon. The explosion occurred at a plant that reprocesses highly flammable potassium titanium fluoride salts, zirconium, and other chemicals for use in the aluminum industry. The article mentions that "It is the fourth fire in the last five years and the second fatal fire since 2006. The AL Solutions plant has been the site of multiple fires since it opened in 1991, then under Jamegy Inc. In 1995, a propane tank exploded, killing one worker and injuring another. Another fire broke out in 1997. On July 18, 2006, a worker was killed when a similar explosion and fire ripped through the foundry of the facility. On December 21, 2006, another blaze broke out after a forklift malfunctioned, setting ablaze a tank filled with titanium. On August 2, 2009, yet another fire erupted as employees were shoveling zirconium into barrels".
Pay heed to your previous incidents and learn lessons from them. Even if you have excellent management systems for process safety, there is no use if the your organisation does not incorporate the learning's of past incidents in its DNA.
Read the article in this link.

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