Celanese and Process Safety

I had the privilege working for 8 years in a methanol plant in Saudi Arabia, a joint venture with Celanese,USA, from 1990 to 1998.Their focus on process safety at that time itself was very good.A recent article mentions the following:
"In 2009, Celanese sponsored a process safety symposium in conjunction with the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Association (CPCIA). The goal was to explain the philosophies of process safety, share how Celanese manages its safety programs, and raise awareness of how to avoid catastrophic injury or loss of facilities.
A key message of the event was that the industry, government and companies were all responsible for process safety and must work together to make process safety improvements. This symposium was such a success that Celanese is again cosponsoring a process safety symposium in September 2010".
Read the full article in this link.
Hope they come to India!

A little hydrogen can do a lot of damage!

A news article reports that an explosion caused by hydrogen gas in a University of Missouri biochemistry research lab on Monday injured four people and destroyed the laboratory.
"The explosion blew out the windows of the third-floor lab and breached the wall between the lab and an adjacent office. When fire fighters arrived on the scene, they found a small fire covering an area of about 5 square feet, Davison says. One sprinkler head was activated, but investigators aren't sure whether it activated from the fire or from the blast of the explosion. The source of the hydrogen gas was a standard 55-inch-tall steel gas cylinder, which did not explode".
Read the full article in this link

Gas blowing of pipelines - CSB's recommendations

In my earlier post, I was dead against the blowing of new pipelines with natural gas to clear debris as there is a potential for an explosion or fire to take place where the gas is vented. The CSB, after investigating the explosion in the Kleen energy power plant has made similar recommendations to OSHA and others. I am quoting from their report:
Promulgate regulations that address fuel gas safety for both construction and general industry. At a minimum:
a. Prohibit the release of flammable gas to the atmosphere for the purpose of cleaning fuel gas piping.
b. Prohibit flammable gas venting or purging indoors. Prohibit venting or purging outdoors where fuel gas may form a flammable atmosphere in the vicinity of workers and/or ignition sources.
c. Prohibit any work activity in areas where the concentration of flammable gas exceeds a fixed low percentage of the lower explosive limit (LEL) determined by appropriate combustible gas monitoring.
d. Require that companies develop flammable gas safety procedures and training that involves contractors, workers, and their representatives in decision-making.

Read the full report and recommendations in this link.

TWO DAY TRAINING ON PSM IN CHENNAI AUGUST 12th and 13th, 2010

I am pleased to announce a two day training session on Process Safety Management on August 12th and 13th,2010 at Chennai. The course is a highly practical one and the participants can implement what they have learnt. For further details please see this link
If you want the brochure and booking form to be sent to you, please contact me at bkprism@gmail.com
HURRY! SEATS FILLING UP FAST!

Heed the warnings!

An article in CBS News website indicates that the BP Gulf of Mexico incident was not a one off incident. There was another incident in another BP oil rig in 2003 where a similar incident occurred but the gas did not ignite!
"Shortly after lunch on November 27, 2003, Oberon Houston was in his office beneath the helideck of BP’s Forties Alpha oil platform in the North Sea, off the coast of Scotland. One of a select group (1 percent of BP’s staff) of young engineers and managers targeted by the company for rapid advancement, Houston, 34, was working out maintenance plans for the coming week when he heard what he thought was a deafening explosion.Only it wasn’t an explosion. A gas line had ruptured-allowing thousands of pounds of pressurized gas to escape at supersonic velocity. That caused a thunderous sonic boom. Debris from the burst pipe and its cladding rained down, adding to the impression that “an artillery shell had just hit the platform.” The escaping gas quickly formed a huge and potentially lethal cloud around the rig. Now the threat of an actual explosion was very real. The smallest spark would detonate more than a ton of methane gas.
No one died or was even hurt that day on Forties Alpha, thanks in part to high winds that helped to disperse the gas after about 20 minutes of extreme danger to the platform and its crew of 180 people. But Houston, the number two in command aboard Forties Alpha, knew full well what could have happened. “Unlike a similar incident on the ill-fated Piper Alpha platform,” he observes, referring to an earlier accident in the North Sea, “the gas did not ignite, so what could have been a major disaster for myself and everyone else on board was averted by sheer luck.”
Though Forties Alpha could have produced a similar conflagration, it was nothing more than a near miss which was soon forgotten. BP admitted breaking health and safety laws by failing to guard against corrosion on the ruptured pipe that allowed the gas to escape. It was fined $290,000. The bigger loss came in early 2004. Houston resigned, and BP lost one of its best young engineers."
Read the full article in this link