Ammonia leak kills 7

Closely following on the heels of the ammonia leak in a cold storage facility in China, an ammonia leak in a factory in Gujarat has reportedly killed 7 people.
Ammonia is used in cold storage facilities as it is a refrigerant. However the large number of leaks and incidents in India and in the World indicates that cold storage owners do not give adequate importance to safety while handling ammonia. As part of Responsible Care, companies manufacturing and selling ammonia to cold storage users may assist in training the users on the hazards of ammonia. Read about the incident  in this link.


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Hydrogen sulphide -the deadly killer

Unconfined spaces are also dangerous as far as hydrogen sulphide is concerned. Be careful when working near a potential source of hydrogen sulphide, even though it may be in open space. Two case studies of accidents involving hydrogen sulphide are given in this link.

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Emergency response after the HPCL fire accident

The death toll in the fire accident in the cooling tower at HPCL, Visakh has climbed to 19. It is very sad to see so many lives lost. A specialist doctor laments the state of emergency preparedness of the hospitals to handle burn victims. We never seem to learn from the lessons of Bhopal. We seem to have have a learning disability as far as emergency preparedness goes, as it is assumed it will never happen. Read the article in the Times Of India where a leading doctor blasts the state of emergency preparedness after the accident in this link.

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Accident during dewatering pipeline after hydrotest

An accident where two workers during the de-watering of natural gas pipelines after hydrotest as they were struck by temporary de-watering piping, which was not properly anchored and broke loose from its coupling from excessive air pressure. Read about the incident in this link.

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Gas leak into cooling towers

In an article in the Hindu dated  August 27,2013, it quotes a top official of HPCL saying  "in fact such an accident is first of its kind in the world history. A blast of this kind in the cooling tower in unheard of”.

For those in the process industry, gas leaks into cooling towers are not a one off affair. Heat exchanger tube leaks can cause a surge of gas into cooling towers. I had experienced one such incident  30 years ago. Dr Trevor Kletz, in his book " What Went Wrong" mentions under the category "Heat Exchangers", in page 105, the following incident "A leak in another heat exchanger allowed flammable gas to enter a cooling water return line. Welding, which was being carried out on the cooling tower ignited the gas. The atmosphere in the cooling tower had been tested before work started, 5 hours earlier"

Cooling towers are often falsely thought to be harmless, but they can become killing towers in no time.


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HPCL refinery cooling tower fire incident

Refinery safety mechanism goes for a toss

Vizag refinery fire - a cause for concern

Visiting VIPs' face angry protests

 
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Gas leak into system caused the explosion in the cooling tower in refinery?

 Read this article in the Hindu in this link.

 
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Data on process incidents lacking even in USA

I read an interesting article in Dallas News which mentions that lack of data on chemical accidents is a big issue in USA. Just imagine...if this is the state in the USA which has the Chemical Safety Board and other agencies to investigate process incidents, imagine the plight in India!
The article mentions that out of 22000 chemical units in USA just 100 are members of ACC which requires data on accidents to be made public. The article ends in this note:
“Why would a company or organization do data checking? They might do it because there is a liability risk. They might do it because they feel it’s the right thing to do,” Podgurski said in an interview. “But even in an honest organization, deadline financial pressures will mitigate those efforts.”
Read the article in this link.


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Video of cooling tower fire

Details are still sketchy but it appears that the explosion/fire occurred during charging of water to the tower. We have to wait and see whether the investigation details will be made public. Meanwhile see a video of the fire in this link. 

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Explosion in refinery...

News just filtering in about an explosion in HPCL Visakhapatnam refinery in a cooling tower area. Reportedly one person was killed. Read about the news in this link.

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Ammonia leak incident in Mexico

Thanks to Mr Gnanasundaram for sharing news of an ammonia leak in a ammonia pipeline that has reportedly killed 7 people in Mexico. Apparently the leak occurred during excavation for a highway project. Read about the incident in this link. 


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Ammonia from the wind

I read an article where researchers have managed to produce hydrogen that is needed for ammonia synthesis using wind energy. So, if successful on a large scale, the reformer in the ammonia plant will become redundant.....inherently safer?
Read the article in this link.

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