It is good to note that a Civil Aviation Authority is being set up by the Govt. to address safety issues in aviation.As per a news article, "the proposed CAA, which would have administrative and financial autonomy, is also likely to keep a tab on the entire range of activities —from proper provision of air traffic services and licensing to financial fitness of airlines.Government plans to bring in a legislation to establish the CAA. Bhushan said the CAA would have a "lot of financial, administrative and procedural independence. We will be able to recruit (professionals) directly" instead of routing it through the Union Public Service Commission".
On a similar line, it would be good if a Chemical Safety Authority on the lines of the Chemical Safety Board of the USA is set up in India. Read the article about the Civil Aviation Authority in this link.
April 2, 2011
April 1, 2011
Inferno at German oil refinery
Thanks to Abhay Gujar for sending information on a major fire in a ship which was being loaded with gasoline in Germany. The article mentions the following:
"A police spokesman in the town of Lingen an der Ems, in the northwestern state of Lower Saxony, confirmed a series of massive explosions rocked the ship near an oil refinery on the Dortmund-Ems canal where the ship was being loaded late on Monday evening. A significant amount of fuel leaked out, with firefighters spending hours trying to tackle the blaze. Eventually, they brought the flames under control, preventing them from spreading to fully-loaded tankers nearby. All five crew members on the ship escaped the inferno, according to police, although one of the men suffered minor injuries".
Read the article and see photos in this link.
"A police spokesman in the town of Lingen an der Ems, in the northwestern state of Lower Saxony, confirmed a series of massive explosions rocked the ship near an oil refinery on the Dortmund-Ems canal where the ship was being loaded late on Monday evening. A significant amount of fuel leaked out, with firefighters spending hours trying to tackle the blaze. Eventually, they brought the flames under control, preventing them from spreading to fully-loaded tankers nearby. All five crew members on the ship escaped the inferno, according to police, although one of the men suffered minor injuries".
Read the article and see photos in this link.
March 27, 2011
The importance of correct measurement in Process Safety
In February 2008, a stealth bomber of the US airforce crashed soon after take off. The pilots ejected safely but the loss was USD 1.4 billion. Wikepedia mentions the following about the cause for the crash...
"The findings of the investigation stated that the B-2 crashed after "heavy, lashing rains" caused water to enter skin-flush air-data sensors, which feed data to the computerized flight-control system. The water distorted preflight readings in three of the plane's 24 sensors, causing the flight-control system to send an erroneous correction to the B-2 on takeoff. The B-2 quickly stalled, became unrecoverable, and crashed. The sensors in question measure numerous environmental factors, including air pressure and density, for data to calculate airspeed, altitude and attitude. Because of the faulty readings, the flight computers determined inaccurate airspeed readings and incorrectly indicated a downward angle for the aircraft, which contributed to an early rotation and an un-commanded 30-degree pitch up and left yaw, resulting in the stall"
Whatever advanced process control systems you may have, it ultimately depends on the measurement reading that the system receives. Focus on the integrity of your primary measuring devices.
Read the article about the crash in this link.
"The findings of the investigation stated that the B-2 crashed after "heavy, lashing rains" caused water to enter skin-flush air-data sensors, which feed data to the computerized flight-control system. The water distorted preflight readings in three of the plane's 24 sensors, causing the flight-control system to send an erroneous correction to the B-2 on takeoff. The B-2 quickly stalled, became unrecoverable, and crashed. The sensors in question measure numerous environmental factors, including air pressure and density, for data to calculate airspeed, altitude and attitude. Because of the faulty readings, the flight computers determined inaccurate airspeed readings and incorrectly indicated a downward angle for the aircraft, which contributed to an early rotation and an un-commanded 30-degree pitch up and left yaw, resulting in the stall"
Whatever advanced process control systems you may have, it ultimately depends on the measurement reading that the system receives. Focus on the integrity of your primary measuring devices.
Read the article about the crash in this link.
March 26, 2011
Bayer stops MIC production
A news article mentions the following:
"In a surprise move in U.S. District Court in Charleston, attorneys for Bayer CropScience announced they were dropping plans to resume production of the chemical, commonly called MIC, and would begin dismantling the unit.
That ends the key part of the latest lawsuit in a nearly three-decade battle.But Bayer's decision erases a threat that loomed over the people of Institute for a generation.
The company will no doubt replace MIC, which is used to make a pesticide, with some other chemical, but nothing could be as bad, said Oden, a retired biology professor at West Virginia State University who still lives next to the plant."Chemicals don't have to kill," she said.
"There were so many questions that weren't answered," she said. "And I know there' no such thing as foolproof, because look at the situation in Japan. There's no safe, foolproof ways for doing most of what we do."
A 2008 accident that killed two workers and sent projectiles dangerously close to an aboveground MIC storage tank brought new scrutiny from Congress and the U.S. Chemical Safety Board.
The explosion also showed larger, more affluent communities in the Kanawha Valley that they too could be in danger — towns that the folks in Institute can't help but notice are whiter. In all, some 300,000 people live in the 25-mile MIC "vulnerability zone," which includes the state capital.
MIC is a colorless chemical used to make pesticides, polyurethane foam and plastics. It attacks the respiratory system, and at low levels, can irritate the eyes and throat. High concentrations can cause serious lung damage, hemorrhaging and death.
Several companies manufacture it, but the Institute plant is the only one in the nation that still stores it in large quantities.
Bayer has said it spent $36 million to improve safety and upgrade equipment, and that it slashed its MIC stockpile by 80 percent and eliminated all aboveground storage. How long it will take to exhaust the remaining supply and rid Institute of MIC entirely was not immediately clear.
Less than two years after Bhopal, Congress passed the federal Right-to-Know Act, to help the thousands of people around the country who live in the shadow of industry know what chemicals are made and stored in their neighborhoods. But that openness began to diminish after the terrorist attacks of 2001. Chemical plants became viewed as potential targets. Reports on the toxic inventory of industries were no longer as readily available to the public.
Read the full article in this link
"In a surprise move in U.S. District Court in Charleston, attorneys for Bayer CropScience announced they were dropping plans to resume production of the chemical, commonly called MIC, and would begin dismantling the unit.
That ends the key part of the latest lawsuit in a nearly three-decade battle.But Bayer's decision erases a threat that loomed over the people of Institute for a generation.
The company will no doubt replace MIC, which is used to make a pesticide, with some other chemical, but nothing could be as bad, said Oden, a retired biology professor at West Virginia State University who still lives next to the plant."Chemicals don't have to kill," she said.
"There were so many questions that weren't answered," she said. "And I know there' no such thing as foolproof, because look at the situation in Japan. There's no safe, foolproof ways for doing most of what we do."
A 2008 accident that killed two workers and sent projectiles dangerously close to an aboveground MIC storage tank brought new scrutiny from Congress and the U.S. Chemical Safety Board.
The explosion also showed larger, more affluent communities in the Kanawha Valley that they too could be in danger — towns that the folks in Institute can't help but notice are whiter. In all, some 300,000 people live in the 25-mile MIC "vulnerability zone," which includes the state capital.
MIC is a colorless chemical used to make pesticides, polyurethane foam and plastics. It attacks the respiratory system, and at low levels, can irritate the eyes and throat. High concentrations can cause serious lung damage, hemorrhaging and death.
Several companies manufacture it, but the Institute plant is the only one in the nation that still stores it in large quantities.
Bayer has said it spent $36 million to improve safety and upgrade equipment, and that it slashed its MIC stockpile by 80 percent and eliminated all aboveground storage. How long it will take to exhaust the remaining supply and rid Institute of MIC entirely was not immediately clear.
Less than two years after Bhopal, Congress passed the federal Right-to-Know Act, to help the thousands of people around the country who live in the shadow of industry know what chemicals are made and stored in their neighborhoods. But that openness began to diminish after the terrorist attacks of 2001. Chemical plants became viewed as potential targets. Reports on the toxic inventory of industries were no longer as readily available to the public.
Read the full article in this link
March 25, 2011
"A Fail safe fails"
A news item in the The Wall street Journal reports the following:
"BP PLC came within 1.4 inches or less of preventing the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, say engineers studying the safety device that failed in last year's Gulf of Mexico disaster.
The device, known as a blowout preventer, was a massive set of valves that sat on the sea floor nearly a mile beneath the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which floated on the surface. It was equipped with powerful shears designed to cut through pipe and seal off the well in an emergency. Why the device failed has been one of the central mysteries of last year's disaster.
In a report released Wednesday, engineers hired by U.S. investigators say they have solved it: The force of the blowout bent the drill pipe, knocking it off-center and jamming the shears. Rather than seal the well, the blades got stuck 1.4 inches or less apart, leaving plenty of space for 4.9 million barrels of oil to leak out.
The investigators concluded the blowout preventer failed as a result of a design flaw, not because of misuse by BP or any of the other companies involved, and not because of poor maintenance. The fail-safe device, the last line of defense against a disaster, wasn't designed to handle a real-world blowout, according to investigators, who called for further study of the devices.
The report doesn't address what caused the blowout itself. That has been the subject of several other major inquiries, which all have found that a series of decisions by BP and its contractors set the disaster in motion.
Even if the device had worked, it wouldn't have saved the lives of the 11 rig workers killed in the accident. That's because no one even tried to activate the shears until after massive explosions killed the men and crippled the rig. But the device could have mostly prevented the oil spill that began when the Deepwater Horizon sank two days after the initial explosion".
How sure are you that your fail safe devices will work as intended? Today there are systems available to conduct a online partial stroke test of critical valves. But the test is done during normal operating conditions. In the case of a major upset or incident, conditions may prevent the fail safe devices from working.
Read the article in this link.
"BP PLC came within 1.4 inches or less of preventing the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, say engineers studying the safety device that failed in last year's Gulf of Mexico disaster.
The device, known as a blowout preventer, was a massive set of valves that sat on the sea floor nearly a mile beneath the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which floated on the surface. It was equipped with powerful shears designed to cut through pipe and seal off the well in an emergency. Why the device failed has been one of the central mysteries of last year's disaster.
In a report released Wednesday, engineers hired by U.S. investigators say they have solved it: The force of the blowout bent the drill pipe, knocking it off-center and jamming the shears. Rather than seal the well, the blades got stuck 1.4 inches or less apart, leaving plenty of space for 4.9 million barrels of oil to leak out.
The investigators concluded the blowout preventer failed as a result of a design flaw, not because of misuse by BP or any of the other companies involved, and not because of poor maintenance. The fail-safe device, the last line of defense against a disaster, wasn't designed to handle a real-world blowout, according to investigators, who called for further study of the devices.
The report doesn't address what caused the blowout itself. That has been the subject of several other major inquiries, which all have found that a series of decisions by BP and its contractors set the disaster in motion.
Even if the device had worked, it wouldn't have saved the lives of the 11 rig workers killed in the accident. That's because no one even tried to activate the shears until after massive explosions killed the men and crippled the rig. But the device could have mostly prevented the oil spill that began when the Deepwater Horizon sank two days after the initial explosion".
How sure are you that your fail safe devices will work as intended? Today there are systems available to conduct a online partial stroke test of critical valves. But the test is done during normal operating conditions. In the case of a major upset or incident, conditions may prevent the fail safe devices from working.
Read the article in this link.
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BP Oil Rig Disaster