Theme for the month - Nitrogen related incident

A driver of a small-scale liquid nitrogen delivery service vehicle was making a delivery. He connected his transfer hose to the customer-installed tank, which was situated in a semibasement. After he had started to fill, one of the customer’s employees told him that a cloud of vapour was forming around the tank. The driver stopped the filling operation and returned to the area of the tank to investigate. On reaching the bottom of the stairs, he collapsed, but fortunately he was seen by one of the customer’s staff that managed to put on breathing apparatus, go in and drag the man to safety. The driver fully recovered. Unknown to the driver, the bursting disc of the storage tank had failed prior to the start of his fill and as soon as he started filling, nitrogen escaped in the vicinity of the storage tank. The oxygen deficient atmosphere overcame him when he went down to investigate without wearing his portable oxygen monitor, which would have warned him of the oxygen deficiency. The installation had been condemned and was no longer being used. Not only was the tank situated in a semibasement, but the relief device was also not piped to a safe area.

Source:EIGA