Where does your reactor rupture disc vent?

An accident in a reactor caused a rupture disc to burst open and spew the reactor contents out, killing people. Very often, people think that just by installing a rupture disc, a reactor is safe. You need to properly design the outlet system of a rupture disc. Read about the incident in this link.

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Ammonia transfer line incident

An incident of ammonia release has been reported in the USA when apparently a pressure safety valve malfunctioned. Check your safety valves in transfer lines - where do the PSV's release?  Are they tested regularly? Many times, tranfer lines are always in use and operations do not find the opportunity to release them for maintenance.

Read about the incident in this link.

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Ruptured reboiler caused fire?

A company news release about the explosion at their Geismar plant indicates the following:

"According to the preliminary findings three main factors in combination with one another contributed to the incident:

>      The unexpected presence of liquid hydrocarbons in the reboiler in standby mode

>      The introduction of heat into this standby reboiler

>      The pressure relief system was isolated from the reboiler which was in standby mode"

Read the news release in this link.

It is heartening to see this news release on the company's website itself. In India, we are still waiting news about the investigation about the cooling tower explosion in a refinery!!

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"This is your pilot sleeping"

A recent incident in a British airline where both the pilot and copilot dosed off because of lack of adequate sleep in the previous nights highlights the importance of fatigue management in the chemical industry, too. While the chance of a control room operator in a common control room in a chemical unit to fall asleep unnoticed is less, fatigue often impairs judgement and reaction. For plants using process simulators for training, it is worth to take the trainee through a series of night shift training sessions so that he himself feels the difference.
Read about the incident in this link.

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Emergency exits

Thanks to Mr Salim Akthar for sharing news about a fatality in a cement plant where a person died due to lack of proper emergency egress. The incident occurred when the persons went to attend to a cement extraction problem in a silo.  As the choke suddenly cleared, the victim panicked and it appears that while trying to escape from the exit staircase his forehead struck against some equipment / obstruction on the way. He died due to the impact. This incident highlights the importance of emergency exits while performing non routine jobs.


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