December 6, 2016

The importance of SOP's for start up after an emergency shutdown

After an investigation of a fatal refinery furnace explosion, OSHA has concluded that catastrophic incident all started with a power outage. The report mentions an emergency shutdown that apparently took place in the furnace unit where the victim was working just before the explosion. The emergency shutdown was needed after a power outage occured, and a furnace exploded when workers were lighting up burners to bring the plant back online.
OSHA claims the company failed to provide clear instructions to operators for proper startup and use procedures after an emergency shutdown. The citation notification issued by OSHA said the same startup procedures were used for normal startup and startup after an emergency shutdown.
OSHA also claims proper furnace purging procedures were not performed on the furnace that eventually exploded and killed the victim.


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