CONDENSATE INDUCED WATER HAMMER INCIDENT

 https://www.hse.gov.uk/safetybulletins/phenomenon-of-condensate-induced-water-hammer.htm

My presentation on Whats Going Wrong in PSM - 36 years after Bhopal?

 I am giving a presentation in the First Jordanian International Chemical Process Safety Virtual Conference to be held on 30th and 31st March 2021. My topic is "Whats Going wrong with PSM - 36 years after Bhopal?" and is scheduled on 30th March,21 between 1500 to1515 hrs Jordan time (1730 to 1745 hrs IST) The registration to the conference is free and there are very good speakers lined up. 

Register in this link http://www.jeaconf.org/JCPSC/ConferenceFees  Registration is FREE

CONFINED SPACE INCIDENT

 https://www.iadc.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Safety-Alert-05-24.pdf

OSHA STANDARD FOR BREATHING AIR

OSHA Standard 29 CFR 1910.134(i)(1)
“Compressed breathing air shall meet at least the requirements for Grade D breathing air described in ANSI/Compressed Gas Association Commodity Specification for Air, G-7.1-1989, to include:
Oxygen content (v/v) of 19.5% - 23.5%;
Hydrocarbon (condensed) content of 5 milligrams per cubic meter of air or less;
Carbon monoxide (CO) content of 10 parts per million (ppm) or less;
Carbon dioxide (CO2) content of 1,000 ppm or less; and
Lack of noticeable odor”

OSHA'S RECOMMENDATIONS TO PREVENT INADVERTENT HOOKING UP OF BREATHING AIR INTO NITROGEN SYSTEMS

To help ensure that workers do not inadvertently hook up to inert gas supplies, the following recommendations should be implemented:

•Ensure that all requirements related to respiratory protection as outlined in29 CFR 1910.134 are met. Written standard operating procedures governing the selection and use of respirators must be developed and implemented. Requirements for training and instruction in the proper use of respirators and their limitations must be met at all facilities.

•Ensure (determine) that the couplings of the respirator air lines are incompatible with any other couplings/fittings for non-respirable air or gas delivery systems.Replace couplings on non-breathing air systems with another, incompatible type of coupling.

•Ensure that breathable air systems are not in any way interconnected to non-breathable air systems.

•Develop a maintenance procedure to address supply-line identification (labeling)and painting. Stress the purpose of color coding and the importance of completing detail painting in a timely fashion to ensure that this visual cue is always available to aid workers.

Source: Osha.gov

INCIDENT #3 DUE TO CONNECTING BREATHING AIR HOSE TO NITROGEN

 An employee hooked the fresh air line of his supplied-air respirator into a plant’s compressed airlines and began abrasive blasting. The plant operators, unaware that their plant air was being used as breathing air, shut down the fresh air compressor for routine, scheduled maintenance and pumped nitrogen into the system to maintain pressure and control the valves in the refinery. The employee was overcome by the nitrogen in the airlines and died of nitrogen asphyxia.

Source:Osha.gov

INCIDENT #2 DUE TO CONNECTING BREATHING AIR HOSE TO NITROGEN

An employee was using an air hammer to chip residue out of a furnace at an aluminum foundry.He was wearing an air-line respirator. Two compressed gas lines with universal access couplings were attached to a nearby post. The one on the right was labeled “natural gas.” The gas line on the left had a paper tag attached with the word“air” handwritten on it; however, this line actually contained pure nitrogen. A splitter diverted one part of the gas stream to the air hammer and the other part of the stream to the air-line respirator.The employee was asphyxiated and killed when exposed to pure nitrogen.

Source:osha,gov

INCIDENT #1 DUE TO CONNECTING BREATHING AIR HOSE TO NITROGEN

A contractor crew was assigned to abrasively blast inside a reactor vessel at a petrochemical refinery.Although verbal company policy called for contractors to supply all breathing air, this crew,with supervisor’s knowledge, had on several occasions used plant air to supply breathing air. A crew member mistakenly hooked up his air-line respirator to an unlabeled nitrogen line (only the shut-off valve was labeled) used by the refinery for purging confined spaces. Plant nitrogen and airlines were identical, and both had couplings compatible with the coupler on the respirator. The crew member was killed.

Source: osha.gov

Fire when opening a level gauge connected to a molten sulphur tank

In a molten sulphur tank in a refinery, receiving of molten sulphur was stopped as the level gauge was not working. When instrument personnel opened the top side of the level gauge, a fire started as there was pyrophoric iron sulphide inside the level gauge top chamber. The H2S inside the tank also caught fire.

Are you training your operators on the hazards of storing molten sulphur?