Hazards of Gas build up in drums

Many times, drums or barrels are used for storage of chemicals. Be careful about drums. They are potential time bombs if not handled and stored properly. In many places I audit, I see that drums are taken for granted. A safety bulletin mentions the hazards of storing chemicals in drums. The hazards include chemical reactions, decomposition, change in altitude or temperature, exposure of drums to heat. Read the safety bulletin in this link.

Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"

Chlorine leak incident

FEMA of US has a good case study of a chlorine leak incident that occured in May 1991. It appears that the chlorine leak was caused by a brine leak that contacted the liquified gas. The mixture created corrosive acid which ate through pipes when product was transferred from the storage tank. Read about the incident and lessons learnt from this link.
 
Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"

Duty time limitations for flight maintenance engineers

The DGCA ( Director General of Civil Aviation) has drafted duty time limitation for flight maintenance engineers to avoid human error. Much of what is mentioned in the draft holds good for chemical industries also. Read the draft advisory article in this link

Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"

Firefighter dies in tank explosion

An explosion in an acrylic acid tank has killed a firefighter in Japan. A news article mentions the following:

"According to the city's fire department and other sources, a 5.6-meter-high acrylic acid storage tank with a diameter of 4.2 meters exploded at 2:35 p.m. Saturday when the company's fire crew members were spraying water on it. The tank that exploded is one of three contiguous tanks, and is the most southerly of the three. Following the explosion, the blaze apparently spread to the other two units.
Shortly before 1 p.m., a company employee reportedly discovered the temperature inside the tank was rising abnormally, prompting the in-house fire crew to spray water over the unit. However, the temperature did not fall.
At 1:51 p.m. the company called the fire department, saying dangerous chemical reactions could occur. At 2:05 p.m. the first batch of firefighters arrived at the plant. About 30 minutes later, the explosion occurred as they were preparing to spray down the tanks.
At that time, Yamamoto was reportedly trying to connect water-supply hoses for the operation, and was standing near a fire engine about 20 meters west of the tank that blew up.
About 50 to 60 employees and others were at the plant when the tank exploded"

Read the complete article in this link.


Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"

Venezuela refinery fire - ppt

Thanks to G.Satyanarayana and Sanjeevi for sending details of the Venezuela refinery fire. You can see the ppt in this link.

Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"

Asset Integrity policy

Maintaining the integrity of assets is of prime importance to process safety. Many a time, management looses focus on this important aspect. I read the asset integrity policy of Petrofac which, in my opinion is an excellent policy. I especially liked the last statement about responsibility and implementation.
Read Petrofac's asset integrity policy in this link. 
 
Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"

Assessing Pressure Relief Needs | Chemical Processing

A good article on assessing thermal safety valve requirements is given in this link:

Assessing Pressure Relief Needs | Chemical Processing

Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"

Crisis management

I read an interesting article in Forbes where an entire top two levels of the management team (50 persons) died in a plane crash. The article mentions how the new CEO addressed the issue and brought the company back into its tracks. Now this was not a chemical manufacturing company, but just imagine if the same thing had happened in a chemical manufacturing organization. Many companies do have strict travel rules for its top management to avoid this exact possibility, but in India, there is an inevitability about "fate" and often these rules are flouted.
Does your crisis management plan address these issues?
Read the article in this link.

 Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"

Process safety - Gasket failures

Gasket failures contribute to a large number of leaks and some of them could be catastrophic. With skill levels going down in India, sometimes a simple gasket that is improperly fixed could cause a big disaster. Are you training your technicians on the intricacies of selecting and fitting gaskets?  A good article by Garlock on the causes and cost of gasket failure highlight the various issues that are simple but are often forgotten.
Read the article in this link.
  
Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"

Safety supervisor arrested in paint shop fire

A safety supervisor was arrested for a fire in a paint shop in a tyre factory. Another manager was also arrested for the fire that killed three Persons.
Read the article in this link. 

Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"

Emergency situations and tiredness

An article in the Times Of India mentions that Air India cabin crew have started a campaign protesting the extra hours they were forced to work.The article mentions that the cabin crews alertness is most important in emergency situation and evacuations where time is of the essence. In a chemical plant, during emergencies, it is very similar to emergency situations in planes and the operating crew needs to be alert. When I was shift in charge and had operators continuing on overtime, (especially from evening to night shift), I have seen the errors committed by these operators during emergencies. It is a human need for rest and you cannot fight it. Look at your staffing requirements properly and ensure that competent people are available in adequate numbers.

Read the article in this link.


Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"

Gas blowthrough incident

A gas blowthrough incident caused  H2S release from a tank roof. The cause of the gas blowthrough was due to a level control valve failure.Read the incident in this link.

Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"