Massive fire in pesticide plant

A reactor in a pesticide plant apparently exploded about a few hours ago. Many people are feared injured. Read the breaking news in this link.
See photos of the fire in these links:
Link 1
Link 2  
See video in this link.

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More pictures of steel plant accident

The steel plant accident has several probes working to find the root causes. An article in the Hindu mentions three probes - one by the factory Inspector, another by National Legal Service Authority (NALSA)and another by a high level committee to go into the accident and recommend measures to prevent recurrence of such accidents.

The committee, to be headed by former SAIL Chairman S.R. Jain, will investigate the incident and submit a report within a month. I hope we get to see the root causes from all these investigations.

Meanwhile see some more pictures of the accident in this link.

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Micro reactors and inherent safety - the future?

A press release mentions the following:
"Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT in Pfinztal have developed a method for safer production of nitroglycerine: a microreactor process, tailored to this specific reaction. What makes the process safer are the tiny quantities involved. If the quantities are smaller, less heat is generated. And because the surface is very expansive compared to the volume involved, the system is very easy to cool. Another benefit: the tiny reactor produces the explosive material considerably faster than in agitating vessels. Unlike a large agitating vessel filled before the slow reaction proceeds, the microreactor works continuously: the base materials flow through tiny channels into the reaction chamber in “assembly-line fashion“. There, they react with one another for several seconds before flowing through other channels into a second microreactor for processing – meaning purification. This is because the interim product still contains impurities that need to be removed for safety reasons. Purification in the microreactor functions perfectly: the product produced meets pharmaceutical specifications and in a modified form can even be used in nitro capsules for patients with heart disease. “This marks the first use of microreactors in a process not only for synthesis of a material but also for its subsequent processing,“ observes Dr. Stefan Löbbecke, deputy division director at ICT. The microreactor process is already successfully in use in industry".

The use of micro reactors on a large scale will usher in a sea change in process safety. We will be investigating micro explosions instead of the major ones now!!
Read the press release in this link.

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Vehicle movement near flare headers

In March this year, a backhoe knocked a flare header off a pipe rack in a refinery in the USA, leading to a partial evacuation of the refinery. Flare systems including the flare header play a critical part during emergencies, start up and shutdowns. Ensure that you have proper engineering controls (vehicle impact protection) and administrative controls to prevent this happening to your emergency flare/ vent header systems including pipe racks. Read my earlier post on vehicle impact protection in this link.

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Accident at steel plant

Thanks to Deivanayagam for sharing pictures of the steel plant accident. The pictures show the extent of the explosion. The control room damage is also seen. The cause of the incident is being investigated. I hope the incident report is shared so that everyone can learn the lessons.A blast wave can damage everything in its path. Are your control rooms blast proof? See the pictures in this link. (Large file.... be patient)
 
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Pigging accidents

An oil pipelines was being cleaned by "pigging", which involves pushing a cylindrical plug through a pipeline for cleaning it. In this incident the pig was pushed by compressed natural gas. The pig got stuck in the pipeline and natural gas blow through occurred past the pig. The natural gas found its way to pumps and storage tanks and was vented through the tanks safety valves. Luckily it did not catch fire. The investigation determined that the blow through of gas due to a stuck pig was not considered in the job safety analysis. There are many other incidents when a pig receiver cover was opened without proper depressurizing and the pig blasting out, killing the operator. Pigs have known to be blown 100 meters away. Do a proper JSA while pigging.
Read a safety advisory bu the National Energy Board in this link.

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Bhopal waste to be sent for disposal

About 350 MT of toxic wastes lying in the Union Carbide Plant at Bhopal is to be airlifted to Germany for disposal, says a news report. I wonder what happens to the contamination that has already taken place in the ground water due to these toxic wastes. Read the news article in this link

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Heed your near misses and past incidents

A massive blast in a steel plant in Vizag has killed many people. Apparently the incident occured during start up. The Times of India mentions many other incidents that occured before the fatal blast. Heed your past incidents and near misses. No major disaster comes without warning. This is also true in the Bhopal Gas Disaster and the BP Texas City incident of 2005.. There were enough signals that something big was about to happen Read the TOI article in this link.

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Withdrawing of safety award

Thanks to S.Selvam for sending news that the British Safety Council has withdrawn two safety awards pending further analysis– including one endorsed by the UK's Health and Safety Executive to a company after it was brought to their attention about controversies including fatality at the group's operations in Orissa.
I am always of the view that if PSM or any other safety management system is to succeed, the proof of the pudding is no fatalities or injuries occur in that site or outside. I often come across organizations getting an award and soon after, a fatal accident occurs in that organization. Read the article about the withdrawing of the award in this link

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Using technology for safer confined space entries

I came across a presentation in a seminar by Matty Zadnikar of Z group which has used technology to ensure safer entry and monitoring of confined spaces. Specifically, their technology allows
Automatic access control
Continuous gas detection
Camera surveillance
Communication
Alarming
Wireless data transfer
Download the presentation in this link.
PS: I am not endorsing the product - this is for information only.

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Not adding solvent causes a reactor explosion

A fatal accident caused by an explosion at a pharmaceutical factory reportedly occurred during the manufacture of a chemical product called CMP that involved the mixing of two ingredients. The two chemicals were to be mixed in a liquid base of acetone solvent, which is used to take the heat out of the reaction, but it appeared that the acetone was not added, resulting in a build-up of heat and gas which exploded in the vessel.
“It is our understanding there was an unintentional operator error – he made an error in the sequence in which the chemicals were put into the chemical vessel,” said Mr Boylan, adding the explosion blew a 5m (15ft) hole in the building with debris ending up 150m away".He said the company had breached safety regulations by not properly assessing the risk and consequences of omitting acetone from the process. While electronic devices were available to control the mixing of ingredients, the company had relied on human judgment"
Read the article in this link.
 
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Crisis management in electronic times

A good article  called "How to avoid the Post Crisis Crisis" in the Financial Review is a must read for all those of you who are dealing with crisis management and communicating to the outside world after an incident. The other day, an incident in a chemical plant in an Indian company had the news reporters calling up the Chief of Factories and telling him that the reporter will interview him in his house to get the real picture!
Read the article in this link.
 
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Process incidents due to vehicular impact

The CSB had published a case study where a forklift hit a projecting drain of a strainer, resulting in the breakage of the drain, followed by a huge fire. Vehicular impact hazards must be assessed during operation and expansion. The CCPS has brought out a best practices guide to avoid vehicular impact accidents in process industries. Read it in this link.

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Tragic accident in manlift

A safety alert about a tragic accident in a man lift machine highlights the dangers if it is not properly used. A person operating the manlift was killed when he got caught between the manlift and a beam. Read about the accident in this link.
 
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Inherent safety considerations

The National Science Academy has published an interesting article on inherent safety. The article mentions "The use of hazardous chemicals such as methyl isocyanate can be a significant concern to the residents of communities adjacent to chemical facilities, but is often an integral, necessary part of the chemical manufacturing process. In order to ensure that chemical manufacturing takes place in a manner that is safe for workers, members of the local community, and the environment, the philosophy of inherently safer processing can be used to identify opportunities
to eliminate or reduce the hazards associated with chemical processing. However, the concepts of inherently safer process analysis have not yet been adopted in all chemical manufacturing plants. This report presents a possible framework to help plant managers choose between alternative processing options—considering factors such as environmental impact and product yield as well as safety—to develop a chemical manufacturing system.
Read the report in this link.


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Fatal accident in DAP plant

A fatal accident in a DAP manufacturing complex in the US is reportedly due to a  steam turbine explosion. The plant had experienced another fatality a few days prior to this incident. Read and see the video in this link.
Second industrial accident death at Mississippi Phosphates - WLOX.com - The News for South Mississippi


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