Heed your near misses and past incidents

A massive blast in a steel plant in Vizag has killed many people. Apparently the incident occured during start up. The Times of India mentions many other incidents that occured before the fatal blast. Heed your past incidents and near misses. No major disaster comes without warning. This is also true in the Bhopal Gas Disaster and the BP Texas City incident of 2005.. There were enough signals that something big was about to happen Read the TOI article in this link.

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Withdrawing of safety award

Thanks to S.Selvam for sending news that the British Safety Council has withdrawn two safety awards pending further analysis– including one endorsed by the UK's Health and Safety Executive to a company after it was brought to their attention about controversies including fatality at the group's operations in Orissa.
I am always of the view that if PSM or any other safety management system is to succeed, the proof of the pudding is no fatalities or injuries occur in that site or outside. I often come across organizations getting an award and soon after, a fatal accident occurs in that organization. Read the article about the withdrawing of the award in this link

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Using technology for safer confined space entries

I came across a presentation in a seminar by Matty Zadnikar of Z group which has used technology to ensure safer entry and monitoring of confined spaces. Specifically, their technology allows
Automatic access control
Continuous gas detection
Camera surveillance
Communication
Alarming
Wireless data transfer
Download the presentation in this link.
PS: I am not endorsing the product - this is for information only.

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Not adding solvent causes a reactor explosion

A fatal accident caused by an explosion at a pharmaceutical factory reportedly occurred during the manufacture of a chemical product called CMP that involved the mixing of two ingredients. The two chemicals were to be mixed in a liquid base of acetone solvent, which is used to take the heat out of the reaction, but it appeared that the acetone was not added, resulting in a build-up of heat and gas which exploded in the vessel.
“It is our understanding there was an unintentional operator error – he made an error in the sequence in which the chemicals were put into the chemical vessel,” said Mr Boylan, adding the explosion blew a 5m (15ft) hole in the building with debris ending up 150m away".He said the company had breached safety regulations by not properly assessing the risk and consequences of omitting acetone from the process. While electronic devices were available to control the mixing of ingredients, the company had relied on human judgment"
Read the article in this link.
 
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Crisis management in electronic times

A good article  called "How to avoid the Post Crisis Crisis" in the Financial Review is a must read for all those of you who are dealing with crisis management and communicating to the outside world after an incident. The other day, an incident in a chemical plant in an Indian company had the news reporters calling up the Chief of Factories and telling him that the reporter will interview him in his house to get the real picture!
Read the article in this link.
 
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Process incidents due to vehicular impact

The CSB had published a case study where a forklift hit a projecting drain of a strainer, resulting in the breakage of the drain, followed by a huge fire. Vehicular impact hazards must be assessed during operation and expansion. The CCPS has brought out a best practices guide to avoid vehicular impact accidents in process industries. Read it in this link.

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Tragic accident in manlift

A safety alert about a tragic accident in a man lift machine highlights the dangers if it is not properly used. A person operating the manlift was killed when he got caught between the manlift and a beam. Read about the accident in this link.
 
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Inherent safety considerations

The National Science Academy has published an interesting article on inherent safety. The article mentions "The use of hazardous chemicals such as methyl isocyanate can be a significant concern to the residents of communities adjacent to chemical facilities, but is often an integral, necessary part of the chemical manufacturing process. In order to ensure that chemical manufacturing takes place in a manner that is safe for workers, members of the local community, and the environment, the philosophy of inherently safer processing can be used to identify opportunities
to eliminate or reduce the hazards associated with chemical processing. However, the concepts of inherently safer process analysis have not yet been adopted in all chemical manufacturing plants. This report presents a possible framework to help plant managers choose between alternative processing options—considering factors such as environmental impact and product yield as well as safety—to develop a chemical manufacturing system.
Read the report in this link.


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Fatal accident in DAP plant

A fatal accident in a DAP manufacturing complex in the US is reportedly due to a  steam turbine explosion. The plant had experienced another fatality a few days prior to this incident. Read and see the video in this link.
Second industrial accident death at Mississippi Phosphates - WLOX.com - The News for South Mississippi


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"Get serious about safety"

An article in the Bangkok Post highlights lack of seriousness about safety. The article has similarities to what is happening in India. The recent train accident in Andhra Pradesh has the routine court of inquiry instituted but we never know the outcome of the inquiry! Read the nice article in this link.

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Risk management - Financial Vs Process safety

An article about the recent financial issue in a leading company mentions that a shareholder group warned the management that risk management was not up to the mark. The group also mentioned that there was no person with adequate financial expertise in the risk management committee. Chemical manufacturing companies also need to have persons with expertise in manufacturing and process safety in their risk management committees. Risk cannot be managed unless it is understood. Read the article in this link.

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Prevention of corrosion

Tata Steel (Corus) has brought out a good primer on "The Prevention of corrosion on structural steelwork". It succinctly explains the basics and helps to preserve asset integrity. Download it from this link.
 
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