Hazards of operating pumps in dead headed conditions

A safety alert mentions the dangers of operating pumps with suction and discharge closed and the pump continuing to operate, resulting in overheating of the trapped liquid inside the pump. Pump explosion incidents have been mentioned in the alert. The alert sends me back 30 years when I was shift in charge in an ammonia plant and a naphtha pump had been inadvertently started  with suction and discharge closed. It was my night shift and I was making my plant rounds soon after taking charge when I saw a red glow. I rushed to the spot and the whole pump was glowing red. I stopped the pump and we allowed it to cool down. Guess God was my saviour as I would not have been here today if the pump had exploded!!

Read the safety alert in this link.

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Refinery fire - update

Chevron has published a update in September on their findings of the refinery fire at Richmond. You can view it in this link.

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Lessons from Buncefield

Further to my post on the anniversary of Bhopal disaster, I am quoting below from the HSE UK report on the Buncefield oil depot fire (2005) investigation:

"This report does not identify any new learning about major accident prevention. Rather it serves to reinforce some important process safety management principles that have been known for some time:
There should be a clear understanding of major accident risks and the safety critical equipment and systems designed to control them.

This understanding should exist within organisations from the senior management down to the shop floor, and it needs to exist between all organisations involved in supplying, installing, maintaining and operating these controls.

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.

In this case, there were clear signs that the equipment was not fit for purpose but no one questioned why, or what should be done about it other than ensure a series of temporary fixes.

Time and resources for process safety should be made available.

The pressures on staff and managers should be understood and managed so that they have the capacity to apply procedures and systems essential for safe operation.

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 and are effective.

At the core of managing a major hazard business should be clear and positive process safety leadership with board-level involvement and competence to ensure that major hazard risks are being properly managed"
 
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National Process Safety Week on anniversary of Bhopal disaster December 3rd

Today is the 28th anniversary of the Bhopal gas disaster. We still do not seem to learn from Bhopal. The same mistakes that occurred at Bhopal keep recurring in various incidents around the World. Production pressures along with cost cutting measures take a toll on process safety. Just like the National safety week in march, I moot the idea of having a National Process Safety Week every year on the anniversary of Bhopal for all chemical industries in India. During this week, the root causes of the Bhopal disaster and process incidents in individual organisations can be discussed with all  employees including top management. The root causes are again given below: They are still relevant today:
1. Do not cut costs without looking at the effects on process safety
2. Maintain all your layers of defense including asset integrity
3. Continually ensure that competency of personnel operating and maintaining plants are updated and current
4. Be prepared for the worst case scenario.
5. Understand the risks and measures to eliminate / reduce or control them
6. Learn from your past incidents. Those who do not learn are condemned to repeat the incidents.
7. Pay heed to your process safety management system audit reports

 I am again attaching the link of some pictures of the victims of Bhopal, lest we forget..........

" Mothers didn't know their children had died, children didn't know their mothers had died, and men didn't know their whole families had died" - Ahmed Khan, Bhopal resident on the Bhopal disaster
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The hydrogen explosion at Fukushima

 For those of you who wondered how there could be a hydrogen explosion in the Fukushima incident, see the good powerpoint explanation given by Dragoslav Nikezic of the University of Kragujevac in this link. 

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Sulphuric acid mist leak incident

A news article reports a small leak of sulphuric acid mist  from a DuPont plant in USA. Read about it and watch the video in this link.

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Pumps and process safety

Pumps are the lifeline for a chemical unit. Often we tend to forget the basics and this causes problems which may lead to a process safety incident. Read a good presentation called " Where can we go wrong in pump design?" by 
Dick Hawrelak in this link.

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Fire during transfer of hydrogen peroxide

Times of India has reported that " 16  workers and two fire and rescue services personnel were injured in a fire at an industrial unit in the SIPCOT industrial estate in Cuddalore on Wednesday when workers were engaged in transferring inflammable chemical hydro peroxide from a container imported from China into 190kg barrels and in transporting the barrels to the godown. One of the barrels slipped while transporting and the chemical inside leaked leading to the fire."

See a photo of the fire in this link.


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SUlphuric acid tank collapse

 An incident in 2005 caused a sulphuric acid tank to collapse causing 11000 MT of acid to leak out. The acid reached the sea and caused a reaction setting off a cloud. Luckily the wind direction was towards the sea and there were no fatalities. The cause of the incident was due to a bursting of a pipe (contents not mentioned) that weakened the foundation of the tank, causing the tank to collapse!
 
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Pipe replacement in refinery - update

Further to my earlier post regarding replacement of material of construction of the pipes in the refinery which had a major fire, someone has sent me this link for an update on the subject
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Chevron-pipe-dispute-could-deter-restart-4051867.php#ixzz2Clk9QVjJ


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Power failure causes SO2 leak

A transformer failure in a smelter in Australia caused a leak of So2 and So3 gases from the acid plant. Ensure that your utilities are well maintained as they have a direct effect on process safety. Read about the incident in this link.

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Pipe rupture accident in ammonia plant

A high pressure pipe rupture in an ammonia plant during start up has been reported. A news article mentions that d a contract worker who sustained lacerations to the head and another employee complained of aches and pains from being pushed against the wall during the pressure wave. Read the article in this link.

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Positive material identification

I recently investigated an incident caused by counterfeit material of construction. How good is your positive material identification system? Be careful as there are a lot of counterfeit material being offered at low cost which may be tempting to buy but will cause a major process incident later.

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Pipe replacement in refinery after incident

Chevron's refinery which experienced a fire last August has mentioned that they are replacing materials of construction of certain pipes with chrome alloy to avoid corrosion problems. Read the article in this link.

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Incomaptibility incident

An incident caused a fatality when sodium hydrogen sulphide was accidentally unloaded in to a tank containing dilute sulphuric acid causing H2S generation. Read about the incident in this link.

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AVoid Verbal Instructions!

A friend send me this. Avoid Verbal Instructions... no offense meant to anyone but it is a powerful lesson!

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Applying Tank Farm safety Standards for India - Honeywell paper

A good article by Honeywell India about Applying Tank farm safety standards in India can be read in this link.

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Industrial Control Room: The Control Room of the Future - Smarter Reality

 Industrial Control Room: The Control Room of the Future - Smarter Reality

 
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Worlds Largest ammonia storage tanks

For my friends in the fertilizer industry, QAFCO is building the World's largest ammonia storage tanks, each of 50,000 MT capacity. I started my career in ammonia plant in 1979 when tank capacities were 5000 MT!!
The new tanks are single wall with concrete containment.
Read more in this link.

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Tank design standards

I often see tanks not being given their due importance by process engineers when modifications are being carried out. Many modifications are done without the use of proper engineering standards. A tank failure can be catastrophic and a good article mentioning the basic precautions and standards to be followed is available in this link.

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