Air and cyanide - a potent combination!!

An incident that occured in a gold treatment plant in Australia has lessons to be learnt for all of us in the chemical industry. In this incident, a cyanide line was being cleared of a choke using plant air. The hose was left connected to the system after the choke was cleared. As the blockage was not totally cleared, cyanide pressure went up more than the air pressure and cyanide entered the air system. Two employees were treated for cyanide poisoning.
Read about the incident in this link. .

Transportation of hazardous cargo - How ready are you?

As India's highways develop rapidly, more and more transportation of hazardous chemicals take place on our highways. Many of you will agree that there is still a lot more to do to improve the safety while transporting hazardous cargo. 35 years ago, in the US, there was an accident involving a road tanker carrying liquid ammonia, which reportedly killed 7 persons. The cause of the accident was reported to be speeding, sloshing of the partially filled tanker, and inadequately designed guard rails. The lessons learnt from that accident are still valid today. A blog post mentions the following about the reasons for the accident:

• "The truck was driving at or near 53.6 mph when it took the curve taking it from the Loop to the Southwest Freeway. We’ll probably never know why Schmidt was speeding when he exited the Loop.
• Back then, barrier systems on routes that carry hazardous materials were not capable of redirecting vehicles that transport dangerous materials. The bridge rail at that stretch of road was more equipped to contain automobiles than trucks carrying hazardous cargo.
• The ramp where the crash occurred opened in 1963.
• Schmidt, who had been employed by Transportation Co. of Texas since 1975, had driven commercial vehicles since 1969. He had left Corpus Christi between 5 and 5:30 a.m. for the Tenneco plant and had made at least 10 trips to Houston carrying liquid loads.
• It’s said that this crash led to restrictions on the transportation of hazardous cargo through Houston, but that’s not necessarily the case. According to the NTSB report, the city had been using Loop 610 as a hazardous materials route since 1970."

Read about it in this link.

Blast in storage of raw materials for explosives

Times of India has reported a blast in a stores containing raw material for manufacturing explosives, in Nagpur. The reason is being investigated.. According to the article, "The blast that obliterated at AMA Industries' store in Bazargaon on Thursday morning and caused a tremor in the city, also left those in this business confused. The structure housed raw materials for making commercial explosives and did not have finished products. Experts say the thumb rule is raw materials usually would not explode unless bound into a single explosive even in case of a fire. They can burn resulting in a massive fire but not cause a blast, said industry players on condition of anonymity. "Various chemicals like ammonium nitrate, aluminium powder, sulphur when mixed in specific proportions make an explosive. However, all such chemicals stored at different places even in a single premises do not explode under normal fire. A safe distance has to be maintained for storing each of them," said an explosive maker. Aluminium powder is known to catch fire if water is sprayed on it but still a blast is not heard of, he added".
Read the article in this link 
Read another article on the effect of the blast wave in this link. 

Mechanical seals and flushing/cooling systems

(Diagram Courtesy Flowserve) Mechanical seals need to be understood by plant operators for their proper operation. Many times, the operations and maintenance personnel are at loggerheads because many of the operation personnel do not fully understand the principles of seal flushing/cooling systems. Flowserve has a very good mechanical seal piping plan document in this link which clearly explains the functioning for various types.

Aviation safety and Chemical Process Safety- Different approaches!

I was reading a press release by the Press Information Bureau about the improvements made by the civil aviation minsitry one year after the fatal Mangalore air crash. The report mentions the following:
"A Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Council (CASAC) was formed on May 28, 2010 with the mandate to strengthen aviation safety environment through synergisation of available expertise in areas of airlines, airworthiness, operations, air navigation, aerodromes, aircraft engineering, human performance. Special invitees to the Council include FAA, ICAO Experts, IATA, Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier etc. This is an ongoing initiative under the Chairmanship of Secretary (Civil Aviation). The Council gets its technical inputs from working groups covering Operations (Fixed wing and helicopter sub-Groups), Aerodromes, Air Navigation Services, Airworthiness General Aviation and Helicopters. Based on the reassurance drive several issues in the three areas of aerodromes, operations and airworthiness came up. Immediate actions to address the deficiencies have been taken up during the past one year. Several safety related circulars have been issued and implementation ensured. These include presence of Cabin crew in cockpit in case of one pilot leaving the cockpit, Cabin Crew to interact with pilots on intercom during period of lean cockpit activity, in the event of incapacitation of PIC, copilot to take over control and in the event of PIC not responding to calls of copilot regarding ‘go around’, assertiveness by copilot to be encouraged. Regulatory provision for penal action for reporting for duty with alcohol consumption has been made. Pilots are being subjected to Breath Analyser test prior to flights. License are being suspended for three months in case of first BA positive and on second BA positive instance, the licence is cancelled.
In a move to step up the quality of training Captains, the period of Instructorship/ Examiner-ship has been restricted to 5 years with proficiency check every 2 years. Increased oversight for selection of trainers, quality of training imparted by trainers, integrity of simulator training have been introduced. Breath Analyser Test has been mandated for approval of Training Captains and Pilots with BA ‘positive’ report have been debarred from becoming Training Captains. Existing Training Captains if found BA ‘positive’ are debarred from training Captain list for three years.The process for approval of foreign pilots has been made stringent wherein background checks are being done to ensure that these pilots have accident free record. The experience requirements for the foreign pilots have been enhanced and the pilots are subjected to Proficiency Checks before approval is granted by DGCA. These pilots are being subjected to same medical standards as the Indian pilots."  Read the press release in this link
While appreciating the efforts taken by the Government in improving air safety, I could not help comparing the status of process safety management in India after the Bhopal disaster, when compared to developed nations. The PSM rule which is mandatory in USA since 1992 is still not mandatory in India......