March 16, 2017

Learn from this incident

On Wednesday 12 October five people were injured after being exposed to H2S gas (hydrogen sulphide) at an oil and gas terminal.
Five people; two operators, one apprentice and two students on work placements, were exposed to H2S gas at the terminal in connection with work on an H2S reactor. A 14-metre high concrete vessel, the H2S reactor works as a produced water and ballast water cleaning facility with a short vent pipe on the top. One of the five individuals was critically injured, one seriously injured and three individuals were slightly injured. All made a full recovery and are now back in normal routines at work and/or at school.
The internal investigation report defines the incident as having the highest degree of seriousness, and concludes that in other slightly different circumstances the incident could have resulted in fatalities.
The report emphasises several root causes of the incident. Inadequate risk understanding, inadequate skills and emergency response management, in addition to failing barriers in connection with the inspection of the H2S reactor are key elements here. The report forms the basis for measures including: specific operational measures such as more use of portable gas detectors and improved operational procedures related to the H2S reactor, as well as general actions to help increase risk understanding among all employees and improve the quality of the safety work.
Courtesy:PSA

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