On line flare cleaning

I read about a online cleaning of a partially blocked flare header. I was wondering what change the refinery made for the flare header to get partially blocked in the first place. See the video and article in this link. PS: This is for information only.

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

Slurry pump accident

Even a slurry pump when operated dead headed can cause a serious accident. When pumps are operated with their discharge valve closed and no recirculating, the energy will converted to heat. In this incident a slurry pump over pressurized due to superheating of the slurry. Read about the incident   in this link.

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

Are your contingency plans in place?

A recent fire in the Chennai Airport air traffic control complex due to a battery explosion highlights the how good contingency planning and drills can bring a dangerous situation in control. A Times of India article mentions that "A battery of the uninterrupted power system, that was the third back up for the Advance Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (ASMGCS) or surface movement radar, had caught fire and exploded. The battery system that exploded was immediately isolated from other equipment to prevent damage to sensitive machines. Even as the fire fighting was taking place, a few air traffic controllers were sitting along with their colleagues on the second floor and communicating with pilots of overflying aircraft over high frequency communication system."

Read the full article in this link.



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

Confined space entry precautions

Reading a 1987 document about the hazards of confined spaces indicates how relevant it is even today. Old is gold!
Read it in this link. 

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

Ammonia leak from plant

An incident where a safety valve in an ammonia plant lifted and discharged ammonia to the atmosphere has been reported. Check where your ammonia safety valves discharge. Vent stacks which may have been built by the designer may not be the appropriate solution as the population around the plant may have increased. Read about the incident in this link.


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

Tanks & iso container accidents

Tanks and iso container accidents


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

Three killed in Chemical leak at Ankleshwar

Thanks to Mr Sunil Chauhan for sharing news about an incident that has killed three people. Times of India reports that "A chemical process involving acrylonitrile and carbon tetra chloride was being carried out. "This process needs a proper temperature control. The persons responsible failed to control the high temperature that led to a reaction and subsequent leakage of the gas from a gasket of a reactor. We are investigating whether the company had installed proper gasket. Preliminary findings indicate that automatic temperature control valve was not installed," sources said."

Read the article in this link. 


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

Global Chemicals outlook - UNEP

UNEP has published a very informative global chemicals outlook and has given recommendations for the sustainable growth of the industry. Indian chemical manufacturing is projected to grow 59% in the period 2012 to 2020. The sound management of Process safety will become more and more important as the industry faces high attrition rates and management succession gaps. Read the report in this link.

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

CEO faces bonus cut due to incidents

A news article mentions that the CEO of a chemical giant faces cuts in his bonus due to major incidents under his tenure. Many organizations are now linking process safety performance as one of the items to calculate incentives.
Read the article in this link. 


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

Blast in API unit - DGM production arrested

The Hindu (AP edition) today reports that the DGM production of an API manufacturing unit in Andhra Pradesh has been arrested for a blast that killed two persons in January.  The news item mentions that "after a magisterial enquiry, it was established that plastic pipes were used for pumping the chemicals instead of metal pipes. It was also said that sub standard pipes were used."

Read about the incident that happened in January in this link.

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

PVC pipe explosion incident

A safety alert by MSHA indicates the dangers of PVC primer trapped in enclosed spaces that caused a PVC pipeline to explode. Read about the incident in this link.


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

Sight glass failure incident

Read about a sight glass failure incident due to wrong pressure rating in this link.


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

Are you giving importance to maintaining steel structures?

Corrosion is a cancer that spread very fast. There have been many cases of structures collapsing due to the weakened support structure. An article by the department of minerals and energy, Western Australia succinctly explains why you must maintain your plant structures. Read it in this link.

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

Incident due to scaffolding

An incident where a scaffolding pipe slipped and the scaffolder was saved by his safety harness highlights the importance of check couplings for suspended scaffolds.
The key lessons learnt from the incident as mentioned in scaffmag.com are

• "It is considered good practice to install check couplers above the suspension scaffolding coupler as described in AS/NZS 4576 Guidelines for scaffolding.
• The scaffold should be visually inspected by the work party prior to using the scaffold.
• Scaffolds should be inspected regularly by a competent person.
• Only equipment within its certification period should be used.
• Safety equipment should be suitably rated for the personnel using it.
• Fall arrest equipment should be anchored at a suitably rated anchor point.
• The rescue plan should reflect the hazards the job presents rather than using a generic rescue plan for all scaffold jobs".

 Read about the incident in this link. 

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

Tragic incident in confined space - lessons to be learnt

I read about a very tragic incident involving an ISO container containing liquified air conditioning propellant kept inside a ships hold. The safety valve on the ISO container was passing and the released gas displaced the oxygen inside the hold. Three men died in this incident, including the brother in law of the first victim. The brother in law entered the hold through another way though he had been told not to enter the hold after the first victim collapsed. There are a number of lessons to be learnt from this incident in our industry and please share the incident with all your operations and maintenance staff.

The incident is available in this link.


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

Safety system incident

A fire extinguishing system on a ship was inadvertently disabled because though the valve handle position indicated that the valve was open, the actual valve was closed. Read the incident in this link.


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

CSB report on furnace explosion

The CSB has issued a report on the carbide furnace explosion. The CSB states that:

"The investigation report proposed two scenarios for the development of cooling water leaks that likely resulted in the overpressure and explosion. In one scenario, fouling – or the accumulation of solids inside the hollow chamber where water flows – resulted in localized overheating, eventually causing sections of the cover to sag and crack. 

           

 Another possible cause of the leaks could have been the sudden eruption of hot liquid from the furnace, which operators called a “boil-up.” Hot liquids contact the underside of the furnace cover, eroding its ceramic lining, and eventually melting holes through which water leaks. Post-incident examination revealed recurring water leaks in multiple zones of the furnace cover. Rather than replacing the furnace cover, the company directed workers to attempt repairs. The investigation found that the company would inject a mixture of oats and commercially available “boiler solder” into the cooling water, in an effort to plug the leaks and keep the aging cover in operation.

 

 Water leaks into the furnace interfere with the steady introduction of lime and coke raw materials, through an effect known as “bridging” or “arching,” the report noted. In a carbide-producing electric arc furnace, this can result in an undesirable and hazardous side reaction between calcium carbide and lime, which produces gas much more rapidly that the normal reaction to produce calcium carbide itself. Industry literature described the phenomenon as early as 1965, and an independent CSB analysis confirmed that operating conditions at Carbide on the day of the incident could have resulted in this effect, causing hot materials to be expelled from the furnace.

             

 CSB lead investigator Johnnie Banks said, “One of our key findings was that Carbide Industries issued 26 work orders to repair water leaks on the furnace cover in the five months prior to the March 2011 incident. It was distressing to find that the company nonetheless continued operating the furnace despite the hazard from ongoing water leaks. We also found that the company could have prevented this incident had it voluntarily applied elements of a process safety management program, such as hazard analysis, incident investigation, and mechanical integrity.”

Read the report in this link. 


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

Time pressures compromising maintenance safety | Business news | Process Engineering

Time pressures compromising maintenance safety | Business news | Process Engineering

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

Take precautions while testing safety valves

An article mentions the hazards while testing boiler safety valves. In a real life incident, two people were seriously hurt when a failure occurred after the test. Good suggestions are given in the article which you can read in this link.


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

Thermal runaway reaction - on planes?

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner has been grounded due to a battery that caught fire earlier this month. Investigators are now indicating that possible reasons could be short-circuiting and a thermal runaway reaction, though they are not sure which came first.In our industry, there are many reasons for thermal runaway reactions in batch processes but the most common one I see is lack of understanding of reaction hazards during scale up. Spending money on identifying reaction scale up hazards is often not done due to the cost involved and later when an incident does occur, it is too late.
Read a news article on the investigation of the dreamliner battery fire in this link.

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