Ammonia leak from storage tank vent

A leak of about 20 pounds of ammonia has been reported from a DuPont ammonia storage tank in Belle, USA. The leak was detected by a sensor which sounded an alarm. As per the article, "No one was injured in the incident.DuPont spokesman David Hastings said the incident occurred at about 2:30 a.m. and the all-clear was sounded shortly after 3:10 a.m".
It is good that the detector worked as intended. Many times, gas detectors are unreliable for detecting leaks. Some companies are now using computer modeling to determine the number of detectors and their required placement. How sure are you that your detectors will work as intended?
Read the article about the leak in this link.

Sulphuric acid tanker leak kills a woman

Thanks to Abhay Gujar for sending this info. A sulphuric acid road tanker that broke down in Jajmau area was being shifted by a crane when it reportedly got damaged and sulphuric acid got into sewers. The fumes entered a bathroom where a woman was killed. The safety of road transportation of chemicals is a big issue in India, with a number of acid tankers plying the roads. Some of them are not in road worthy condition. The onus is on both the supplier and receiver to ensure that safety rules for transport of hazardous cargo are followed to avoid such tragic deaths.

Read the article in this link.

Use of HF in refineries

An incident has been reported in a refinery in the US where a HF release reportedly occurred. The article mentions the following:
"A hydrofluoric acid leak from an oil refinery in Ohio last week sent a worker to the hospital and required the use of a “water cannon” to disperse the poisonous gas, underscoring the potentially perilous nature of a chemical used at 50 refineries across the country.
HF is used as a catalyst to make high-octane gasoline, despite the existence of a safer alternative and warnings about the chemical’s extreme toxicity and its ability to travel long distances in a cloud. The Center for Public Integrity and ABC News reported last week that at least 16 million Americans live in the potential path of an HF release".
Read the full article in this link
Read the MSDS of HF in this link.

Know the chemicals you deal with

An incident took place when phosphoric acid was inadvertently unloaded into a storage tank containing 12.5% Sodium Hypochlorite solution. The resulting chemical reaction of the two caused a chlorine gas release which affected the field operator. In another incident, a chemical that could be thermally decomposed was inadvertently stored near a steam pipe. The resulting heat transfer from the steam pipe caused a thermal decomposition later caused a fire in the warehouse in which the chemical was stored. Many of us do not treat chemicals with the respect they deserve. MSDS need to be understood by the people who handle chemicals. It is not just a matter of pasting the MSDS in the place where the chemicals are stored. it is a matter of understanding them.

Accident to truck carrying hydrogen cylinders

Thanks to Abhay Gujar for sending this information - A truck carrying 180 hydrogen cylinders overturned due to a burst tyre in an highway (NH-8) resulting in the drivers cabin catching fire. Luckily, the cylinders did not explode. Now, the motor vehicle rules clearly specify the rules for dangerous cargo, including fitness of the vehicle carrying it. If you are transporting cylinders through trucks, ensure that the vehicle is in roadworthy condition. Imagine what would have happened if all the 180 cylinders overheated and burst!
The local news article link is attached.

Temporary solutions - permanent problems!

Management of change is the most difficult element to implement as it requires a lot of commitment to make it work. Very often, temporary changes can have a devastating effect. A safety officer mentioned to me about a temporary electrical cable that was laid across an internal road. To protect the cable, it was inserted through a metal pipe. The cable was energised and work was going on. However, the a portion of the pipe was damaged and a piece of the metal was actually cutting into the cable everytime a vehicle moved over the pipe. Luckily an alert fitter noticed this and an incident was avoided. Do not take the temporary route or shortcuts in process safety.

Read about a boiler explosion that occurred due to a temporary change in this link.

A Bhopal in the USA?

An article highlights the possibility of a bhopal type disaster happening in the US. The article mentions the following:
"Bhopal should have been a wake up call, but it is unclear whether chemical plants around the world are any safer a quarter century after the December 1984 disaster—during which some 40 tons of toxic methyl isocyanate gas leaked from a pesticide plant owned by Union Carbide (now part of Dow Chemical), killing 2,259 people immediately and causing lifelong health problems and premature death for tens of thousands more.
In the U.S., the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) oversees chemical and other facilities that deal with hazardous materials, making sure various “process safety” routines are followed so as to “prevent or minimize the catastrophic injury or death that could result from an accidental or purposeful release of toxic, reactive, flammable or explosive chemicals.” Also, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security instituted its own “Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards” (CFATS) that chemical and other hazardous materials facilities must follow or be shut down.
While this system has worked pretty well in the U.S. so far, some worry that a Bhopal-scale tragedy, whether due to an accident or terrorist attack, could still occur on American soil. For one, water treatment and port facilities are exempt from CFATS altogether, so some of the nation’s largest chemical facilities are not subject to as rigorous standards as they could be. A 2009 bill that passed the House of Representatives but failed to make it through the Senate addressed this and other issues. Supporters are optimistic that the bill in one form or another could resurface in future legislative sessions".
Read the article in this link

And the Flare goes "BOOM" at night!

When I was working in the Middle East, we had a 80 m tall flare that sat in the middle of the plant. After a few years we started hearing "BOOM" noises from the flare when the plant was running normally. The noise was heard more often at night. The "BOOM" used to be muffled and there was no external evidence of an explosion in the flare and the plant continued to operate without interruption. We did a lot of investigation and finally caught the culprit that was allowing air into the system. Treat your flare systems with respect. They are mute spectators when everything is normal but can save the day during an emergency!
For a good presentation on flare systems see this link

Read these process incidents

The department of occupational safety and health, Malaysia has these process incidents put up on their website. Follow the links to learn useful lessons:
1. Combustible dust explosion in motorcycle rim manufacturing facility
2. Fire and explosion in LPG facility
3. Fire and explosion in LPG storage
4. Fire and explosion in biotechnology factory (static electricity)
5. Fire in bulk petroleum storage tanks
6. Fire and storage in LPG storage facility
7. Combustible dust explosion

The Buncefield Investigation - be prepared to see similar findings elsewhere

The HSE, UK has published the investigation report of the explosion and fire that occurred in the Buncefield oil depot in the UK, in December 2005. The main findings are quoted below:
"Fundamental safety management failings were the root cause of Britain's most costly industrial disaster, a new publication reveals.

• Systems for managing the filling of industrial tanks of petrol were both deficient and not fully implemented
• An increase in the volume of fuel passing through the site put unsustainable pressure on those responsible for managing its receipt and storage, a task they lacked information about and struggled to monitor. The pressure was made worse by a lack of necessary engineering support and other expertise.
• A culture developed where keeping operations going was more important than safe processes, which did not get the attention, resources or priority status they required.
• Inadequate arrangements for containment of fuel and fire-water to protect the environment.

 The 36-page report highlights a number of process safety management principles, the importance of which were underlined by the failings at Buncefield:

• There should be a clear understanding of major accident risks and the safety critical equipment and systems designed to control them.
• There should be systems and a culture in place to detect signals of failure in safety critical equipment and to respond to them quickly and effectively.
• Time and resources for process safety should be made available.
• Once all the above are in place, there should be effective auditing systems in place which test the quality of management systems and ensure that these systems are actually being used on the ground." 

In only few organisation do I see the above 4 points religiously followed. In all of them, there is a common link - the person at the top is a person with a hardcore chemical engineering background and plant experience. In all other cases, the top management are persons without such experience and incidents continue to happen. In such cases, the organization must ensure that a person with proper experience should be in a position to act as a link between top management and the plant. While on the same subject, today LOPA has become a fashionable word for many managements but they do not realize that once a LOPA study is carried out and recommendations implemented, they should be maintained for the complete life cycle of the plant. For this it requires resources and manpower and  these are often found wanting. Keep your fingers crossed!!
Read the HSE report in this link.

Hazards of low oxygen inside confined spaces

I got this information from a safety officer of a large company that happened in his company 20 years ago. A vessel had to have its rubber lining repaired. The adhesive used for holding the lining to the solvent was expensive and the contract labourers who were handling it were told to handle it carefully and not to spill it. However, when one contract labourer was entering the vessel by a ladder, he inadvertently lost grip on the open can of adhesive and it fell down to the floor of the vessel. In order to cover up his mistake, he and another co-worker entered the vessel quickly and tried to apply the adhesive to the walls of the vessel. Due to the sudden increase in adhesive concentration in the confined space, the oxygen level decreased and both died of asphyxiation.
Today there are accidents that still continue to happen on the above lines. Learn from history. Do not allow more people to die.

Another natural gas explosion

The aging natural gas pipeline network in the USA has experienced another pipeline explosion. This explosion has killed 4 persons. Authorities are trying to determine whether an determine whether a 83-year-old cast-iron gas main or its feeder lines was the source of the explosion. A news article mention the following:

"The fiery blast late Wednesday night was the latest deadly natural-gas disaster in recent months to raise questions about the safety of the nation's aging, 2.5-million-mile network of gas and liquid pipelines.The explosion, which flattened a pair of rowhouses and set fire to a block of homes, occurred in an area where the underground gas main lacked shut-off valves. It took utility workers five hours of toil in the freezing cold to punch through ice, asphalt and concrete and seal the 12-inch main with foam, finally cutting off the flow of gas that fed the raging flames.An Associated Press investigation published Saturday found that many pipelines around the country are not equipped with remotely operated or automatic shut-off valves that can quickly stop the flow of gas in an accident, even though federal safety officials have recommended such devices to industry and regulators for decades".

Read the article in this link.