Two killed after inhaling nitrogen gas

Thanks to Mr Shritharan for sending news about a nitrogen gas leak that has killed two people in a pharma plant in Hyderabad. Reason is under investigation. The incident happened in the night shift.You should always be careful when dealing with hazardous gases. My condolences to the family of the bereaved.
Read more about the incident in this link.
Read an updated news article in this link

Pipeline explosion -"Rivers of Fire"

A pipeline in Mexico has failed due to thieves reportedly trying to steal oil from it. 28 people have been reported to be killed. The video in the news article shows a "river of fire". Could this tragic incident have been prevented? In India we do have a large number of cross country pipelines. The reliability of safety shutdown systems and compartmentalization of pipelines to isolate leaky sections immediately is very important. More important are the actions of the operators and staff manning the control stations. Ensure that clear unambiguous instructions are communicated to them detailing the steps to be taken in the event of a leak. An operator sitting in a control room manning a cross country grid is going to be very hesitant to stop flow as the ramifications are huge. This is where automatic shutdown systems and their maintenance becomes very important.
Read the news article about the incident with video in this link.
For an article about India's petroleum and gas pipeline network, read it in this link.

Safety valves and their importance

A news article (a little old) mentions about an accident in an alumina digestor plant where 2 persons were killed apparently when a safety valve "exploded" and spread chemical around . Safety valves will do their job of relieving pressure if they are properly maintained and erected. Many times, plant and mechanical personnel do not bother to observe whether the safety valve downtake pipe (if open to atmosphere) is located away from personnel. The testing of safety valves is very important. All data regarding safety valves must be preserved carefully as part of your asset integrity program.
Read about the incident in this link.

Behind every major incident is one or more near misses!

An article in the Wall Street Journal mentions that "BP PLC narrowly averted potential disaster after a 2008 natural gas leak at a field it operates in Azerbaijan, about 18 months before the deadly Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico triggered the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history". "The gas leak, which was disclosed in BP's 2008 annual report and was widely covered by news agencies at the time, occurred in the offshore Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) field, Azerbaijan's largest, in September 2008. As a precaution, BP evacuated 211 workers from the site of the leak and partially shut down production from the field.Details that emerge from cables—written by unnamed diplomats in the U.S. embassy in the Azeri capital of Baku and posted on the WikiLeaks website—show how dramatic and potentially dangerous the gas release was. One cable said that BP was "fortunate" to have been able to evacuate all the workers safely and prevent the gas from igniting, given the "explosive potential" of the leak".

Behind every major incidents there are a number of warnings! Read the full article in this link.

Dust explosions

After the Imperial sugar dust explosion incident, a lot of awareness has been created regarding dust explosions, even though it was well known even prior to the incident that dust explosions are very dangerous. An article mentions the following to reduce the chances of dust explosion:
"1.Properly assess your dust's fire and explosion characteristics so adequate measures can be taken for the prevention and mitigation of hazards in your own facilities and, if you are shipping the dust to some other facilities, at those locations.
2. Understand your own powder handling and processing operations. You should be able to identify likely ignition sources during both normal and abnormal operating conditions. Also pinpoint location(s) where combustible dust clouds could exist during normal and abnormal operating conditions.
3. Take effective measures to avoid or control ignition sources and formation of combustible dust clouds. Also consider explosion protection (such as venting and suppression) and isolation to lower the risk to a tolerable level.
4. Maintain dust explosion prevention and mitigation measures".
Read the full article in this link.
Another article about the ongoing investigation on the explosion in the AL solutions plant in by the CSB mentions that the CSB is also looking at the possibility of explosion of zirconium dust......read the article in this link.

Welding procedures and pipelines

The ongoing investigation in the San Bruno natural gas pipeline rupture by the NTSB has revealed that while longitudinal seams on some of the pipe segments were fusion-welded from both inside and outside the pipe, some were fusion-welded only from the outside of the pipe.The pipeline was erected in 1956 and the standards at that time are being looked into. As per the NTSB, "The investigation is still in an early phase and there is much factual information to be developed before the Safety Board is positioned to determine the probable cause of the accident."
Read the full article in this link.

Facility siting - different countries, different approaches

I read an interesting article where an expert in Canada testifies against the construction of a residential complex next to a chemical facility. The article mentions that "Gaade (the expert) gave testimony about several scenarios he examined to determine the effects of an accident at the chemical plant, and although he said BioVectra has one of the safest plants he’s been in, putting an apartment building next to it is not an acceptable risk. “I’ve never seen it before anywhere other than Third World countries,” Gaade said."
Now, In India, the main problem is lack of will in enforcing the existing laws. Many chemical plants come up in isolated areas but after some years, residences spring up around the plant, with the authorities knowing about it. The IOC Jaipur oil depot where a major fire occurred, is an example.
When will we ever learn? Read the article in this link.

Emergency management - the human factor

The dynamic positioning operator’s (DPO) testimony to the enquiry committee of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster reveals the following: The operator had to deal with a large number of combustible gas alarms getting activated when the blow out occurred. The general alarm system was on “MANUAL” (in other words, even though a lot of combustible gas alarms were going on, the general alarm could get sounded only if the operator manually activated it). (Shades of Piper Alpha??) The operator was not trained on a situation where multiple gas alarms went off.

Reading the testimony of the DPO, the one thought that struck me was the chaotic situation she was dealing with. Every Human being reacts differently to emergency situations. When I was an asst. Shift in charge in an ammonia plant, we had a newly transferred shift in charge who had earlier worked most of his career in the utility plant. His way of dealing with any emergency situation in the ammonia plant was to run to the utility plant ( he was more comfortable there!). Are you training your operators for the worst case scenario? Here simulators play an important role and you should make the training scenario as realistic as possible.

Read the DPO’s enquiry transcript in this link.

Major Fire at Pharma Plant

Thanks to Abhay Gujar for sending information about a major fire at a Pharma plant in Punjab. Three people including a General manager and chemist have reportedly died. Did a blast in a reactor cause it? One of the articles mentions that a reactor burst due to "oversteaming".
Unfortunately, such accidents keep occurring in India and other countries also. Batch reactors must be treated with great respect. A solid looking reactor will destroy itself to pieces if it is overpressurised beyond its design limits due to maloperation.
Read the articles in these links:
Link 1
Link 2

Plant explosion kills two - pay heed to your process near misses and incidents

A news article mentions that two workers were killed and two others were seriously injured in an explosion and fire at a West Virginia chemical plant on Thursday afternoon. The explosion occurred at a plant that reprocesses highly flammable potassium titanium fluoride salts, zirconium, and other chemicals for use in the aluminum industry. The article mentions that "It is the fourth fire in the last five years and the second fatal fire since 2006. The AL Solutions plant has been the site of multiple fires since it opened in 1991, then under Jamegy Inc. In 1995, a propane tank exploded, killing one worker and injuring another. Another fire broke out in 1997. On July 18, 2006, a worker was killed when a similar explosion and fire ripped through the foundry of the facility. On December 21, 2006, another blaze broke out after a forklift malfunctioned, setting ablaze a tank filled with titanium. On August 2, 2009, yet another fire erupted as employees were shoveling zirconium into barrels".
Pay heed to your previous incidents and learn lessons from them. Even if you have excellent management systems for process safety, there is no use if the your organisation does not incorporate the learning's of past incidents in its DNA.
Read the article in this link.

Potassium cyanide incident

An incident has occurred where about 200 L of potassium cyanide has leaked into a vessel containing acids which has liberated the highly toxic hydrogen cyanide gas. Many pesticide manufacturing companies also use cyanide for their process and the handling and storage should be done with great care. I had observed a case where rainwater had entered a strongroom storing cyanide and reacted with it. The rain water entered the locked room through a drain which was open to the outside. Manage your toxic chemicals safely or they will manage you. Read the full article in this link.