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January 28, 2011

Chlorine leak in plant affects people and Police officer dies in mock drill

A leak of chlorine has been reported in Chemfab Alkalis plant in Pondicherry. Apparently the leak occurred when workers were filling chlorine cylinders. If you are also in the business of filling cylinders with toxic chemicals, how often do you check the effectiveness of your quick acting protections in the event of a leak? Do not wait till a leak occurs to find out whether your emergency shutdown systems are effective or not. This brings me to the next subject - a news report - a police officer has died during a mock drill. Apparently he got crushed by a moving fire tender vehicle. It is a tragic loss of life that could have been avoided One of the points that emergency responders must practice is NOT to rush during an emergency. Many mock drills I have seen are intent on controlling the situation as QUICKLY as possible. It is not the speed of response but SYSTEMATIC response that will help. The article also mentions that responders thought that the incident was also part of the drill. This is an unfortunate incident and I hope lessons learnt are shared with everyone.
Read the chlorine leak incident in these links
Leak 1
Leak 2
Read about the fatal accident during mock drill in these links
Mock drill fatality 1
Mock drill fatality 2
Thanks to Abhay Gujar for sending information about the incidents

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