Chlorine leak incident

Thanks to Mr Harbhajan Singh Seghal for sending this incident: 

Incident:
A company in Gujarat was manufacturing Chlorinated Paraffin Wax by feeding Cl2 from the 900 kgs toner in Heavy Normal Paraffins (HNP). On the day of the incident a contract labourer disconnected the empty tonner and took the fresh 900 kgs tonner in line. Immediately after taking it in line, gas started coming out from the fitting of the copper tube at high pressure. The valve of the header and tonner was attempted to be closed by wearing SCBA. But by the time the gas had already spread. Total of 34 person were affected including 15 person from one village Out of the 15 village persons,5 were minor including a 9 month old child. All the affected persons of area were admitted in hospital. The people were complaining about breathing problem, vomiting, & loose motion but their condition was stable.
Root Cause of the Incident:
· Weak copper tube and its fittings
· Not following the correct procedure of taking the filled tonner in line
· Non availability of Safety equipment near the site and extraordinarily long time for its use.
· Non competent person handling Cl2
· Inadequate facilities for Cl2 handling
· Lack of proper training to the operating persons
Action Required:
· Copper tube and its fitting are not to be kept in the open in the atmosphere. It is to be connected with the tonner immediately
· Copper tube should be 8mm I.D., 12mm O.D. and annealed for stress relief and tested at 19.9 kg/cm2 pressure
· Ammonia torch and safety equipments should be near the installation
· While connecting the tonner, the valve should be crack opened to check for leakage. In case of minor leakage the valve is to be closed immediately
· Provision of high capacity vacuum blower to be available at site. The blower to be started in case of heavy leakage in order to avoids spreading of gas
· The operating persons should be trained to wear the safety equipment particularly SCBA in shortest possible time
· In case of leakage beyond control on site/ off site emergency should be initiated
Conclusion:
· Copper tube and its fittings have limited life. Life varies from plant to plant. The tube needs to be replaced before the established Avg. life.
· Leakage must be checked from the Cl2 tonners at the time of connection/ disconnection with ammonia torch by slightly cracking the valve in case of connection and slightly loosening the connection at the time of disconnection
· Regular drills should be conducted for usage of safety equipment and critical equipment need to be provided and tested at regular intervals.