The CSB has published its report on the investigation of a hot work accident at a DuPont facility in the US.
Two contractors were performing welding atop a 10,000 gallon slurry tank when hot sparks ignited flammable vapors inside the tank, causing an explosion that killed one contractor and seriously injured another.
One of the root causes of the incident was failure to test the internal atmosphere of the tank prior to hot work outside the tank. DuPont is renowned for their safety practices and if can happen in DuPont, it can happen anywhere else.
While I am not commenting on the incident and its findings, I strongly feel that competency to understand process safety issues is dwindling in India. When I started my consultancy 10 years ago on process safety, I often got calls for a "safety audit". I had to explain that process safety is different from the regular occupational health and safety. What I see today is the alarming lack of process safety competency in leadership in many Indian Chemical Companies. You may have excellent process safety systems but the bottom line is that unless you have competent personnel to understand and use these systems, they cannot protect you.
Read the CSB report and watch the excellent video in this link.
Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"
Two contractors were performing welding atop a 10,000 gallon slurry tank when hot sparks ignited flammable vapors inside the tank, causing an explosion that killed one contractor and seriously injured another.
One of the root causes of the incident was failure to test the internal atmosphere of the tank prior to hot work outside the tank. DuPont is renowned for their safety practices and if can happen in DuPont, it can happen anywhere else.
While I am not commenting on the incident and its findings, I strongly feel that competency to understand process safety issues is dwindling in India. When I started my consultancy 10 years ago on process safety, I often got calls for a "safety audit". I had to explain that process safety is different from the regular occupational health and safety. What I see today is the alarming lack of process safety competency in leadership in many Indian Chemical Companies. You may have excellent process safety systems but the bottom line is that unless you have competent personnel to understand and use these systems, they cannot protect you.
Read the CSB report and watch the excellent video in this link.
Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"
No comments:
Post a Comment