Possible dust explosion during hot work

Thanks to Sujith for sending information on a possible dust explosion in a tank storing HDPE in Korea, during welding work. The news article in the Korea Joongang Daily mentions:
"The sudden and massive blast hit the plant, located at the Yeosu Industrial Complex, at around 9 p.m. Thursday, catching workers engaged in welding off guard, some falling 30 meters (98.4 feet) down from the tank to the ground, according to witness accounts.
The death toll is likely to rise as five of the 11 wounded are reportedly severely burned. Firefighters contained the fire within 10 minutes after the blast.
The plant, owned by Daelim Industrial, was undergoing maintenance work at the time.
Workers were welding a door into the tank to make an entrance so the company could send inspectors in to examine the interior, the company said. 
“We checked if there was remaining gas in the tank every time workers were put to work, thus multiple times a day,” said an official with Daelim’s public relations team, who requested anonymity.
“Each time, the result was zero. There was no gas lingering in the tank and thus that was not what caused the explosion.” 

Read the article in this link.


Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"

Hot work accidents

We keep hearing about hot work accidents and loss of life. They are totally preventable and we need to apply basic precautions. See a powerpoint on welding cutting and brazing in this link.

Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"

State of preparedness for chemical emergencies

A news report in the Times of India indicates that are 380 "Major Accident Hazard" (MAH) prone industrial units, of which 331are operational in Gujarat.  It also mentions that toxic chemicals with more than 5,000 MT tonnes storages in Gujarat are acrylonitrile, ammonia, benzene, chlorobenzene, chloroform, cyclohexanone, ethylene dichloride, hydrogen, cyanide, P-xylene, styrene monomer and toluene. The report specifies the gaps in infrastructure required for chemical emergency preparedness. Read the report in this link.

 Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"

Inherent safety and LOPA

A Chemical Engineering friend of mine (Vijay) who has about 35 years of experience in Process Industry wrote in to say this:

"Participated in a LOPA study involving pyrophoric materials. However, what struck me was people failed to understand intrinsic safe and unsafe. They did not grasp that giving high SIL rank and spending lot more on SIL certified instrumentation does not buy any increased safety from accidents that can occur when a pyrophoric material is handled. Only a process change can make things safer, not SIL certification or LOPA for inherently unsafe processes. This also happens to be the message of Fukushima. But people dont get it".

There is a strong lesson in his message!!
 
Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"

HPCL refinery fire death toll increases to 27

The latest figure indicates 27 people have died till now in the HPCL cooling tower fire. I feel very sad when newpaper articles mention the death toll, also mention that only one HPCL employee was killed in the incident. A life is a life whether it is a contract worker or employee.
I am waiting for any news about the investigation. Any one know anything about the investigation findings?

Novel solution to flange leaks due to thermal expansion

Often, flanges leak due to the thermal expansion difference between the flange material and the fasteners.  An interesting article by a company that deals with such leaks. Read the article in this link.
PS: This is for information only.

Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"

Another confined space fatality due to nitrogen

On 18th May an engineer in a refinery in Iran died when he entered a vessel filled with nitrogen. Time and again we keep hearing about deaths due to nitrogen. What are you doing to raise awareness of your employees about the hazards of nitrogen?
Read this article in EHS today.


Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"

Ammonia leak kills 7

Closely following on the heels of the ammonia leak in a cold storage facility in China, an ammonia leak in a factory in Gujarat has reportedly killed 7 people.
Ammonia is used in cold storage facilities as it is a refrigerant. However the large number of leaks and incidents in India and in the World indicates that cold storage owners do not give adequate importance to safety while handling ammonia. As part of Responsible Care, companies manufacturing and selling ammonia to cold storage users may assist in training the users on the hazards of ammonia. Read about the incident  in this link.


Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"

Hydrogen sulphide -the deadly killer

Unconfined spaces are also dangerous as far as hydrogen sulphide is concerned. Be careful when working near a potential source of hydrogen sulphide, even though it may be in open space. Two case studies of accidents involving hydrogen sulphide are given in this link.

Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"

Emergency response after the HPCL fire accident

The death toll in the fire accident in the cooling tower at HPCL, Visakh has climbed to 19. It is very sad to see so many lives lost. A specialist doctor laments the state of emergency preparedness of the hospitals to handle burn victims. We never seem to learn from the lessons of Bhopal. We seem to have have a learning disability as far as emergency preparedness goes, as it is assumed it will never happen. Read the article in the Times Of India where a leading doctor blasts the state of emergency preparedness after the accident in this link.

Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"

Accident during dewatering pipeline after hydrotest

An accident where two workers during the de-watering of natural gas pipelines after hydrotest as they were struck by temporary de-watering piping, which was not properly anchored and broke loose from its coupling from excessive air pressure. Read about the incident in this link.

 Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"