Accident at chemical facility at Tarapur MIDC

Close on the heels of the accident at a chemical facility in Andhra Pradesh, news about a series of explosions in a chemical facility in MIDC, Tarapur has been reported. No causalities have been reported. Read about the incident in this link.
 
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Chemical factory blast kills two in Andhra Pradesh - The Hindu

Chemical factory blast kills two in Andhra Pradesh - The Hindu



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Fire in ammonia plant injures 7

I felt sad to read the news about a naphtha fire in the ammonia plant of Madras Fertilizers which injured two people seriously. A total of 7 people were reported injured. Read the news article in this link.

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Mists of flammable material can be dangerous

In my career as a process safety consultant, I have investigated some fires caused by fine spray of a flammable  liquid. The most common include pressurised lube oil leaking from a defective hose or hose joint and the fine mist catching fire.
Read a good reference of various fire incidents caused by mist fires in this link.


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Sulphuric acid spill/leak incidents

Sulphuric acid leak/spill incidents continue to occur. Read about two incidents in these links
Accident 1
Accident 2

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PSM internal audit survey results

My thanks to the 22 persons who participated in the survey. The survey results are as follows:

1.  Over 65% of repsondents say that their PSM internal audit is carried out once in 6 months
2. All respondents say that they audit all their elements at a time
3. 30% of respondents replied saying that they audit process safety culture also
4. 50% of respondents use a rating system for the PSM internal audits
5. 85% of respondents replied saying that they feel the PSM issues are coming out during the audits
6. 60% felt that management was not viewing the PSM internal audits seriously
7. 85% felt that technical competency for conducting PSM internal audits needs improvement
8. 50% of the respondents say they classify audit findings as per risk.

 
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LNG tank leak incident

An incident at a a large LNG storage facility in Washington state in USA when an explosion in a "processing vessel" sent sharpnels into an LNG storage tank, puncturing it,has lessons in Quantitative RIsk Assessment and assumptions made.
The graphic leak of LNG from the tank ( which is similar to liquified ammonia tanks) but stores LNG at a temperature of -160 Deg C is shown in the video in a news report. The tank also appears leaking at two different places on the outer shell. The wind direction has helped in not igniting the vapour leak.

Link 1 - video
Link 2- news report


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The GM recall - what are the lessons in process safety culture?

You must be reading the news about the recall of 2.6 million cars GM made due to a problem in the ignition switch which could shut off the car while driving, disable the airbag, power steering and anti lock brakes. However it is reported that GM took 10 years from the time the problem was discovered and recalling the cars to fix the problem. Meanwhile 13 deaths have been attributed to this.
 In the ongoing Senate hearing, the recently appointed CEO of GM Ms Barra told the subcommittee, "that the new GM is more "focused on the customer" compared to a "cost culture" years ago at the automaker."

What is the commonality between a giant automotive maker and PSM? The answer is "cost culture". Beware of the cost virus in your organisation's PSM system.It can cause deadly accidents.
  
Read about the problem and recall in this link
Read about the testimony of GM Chief in this link

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Uzbek fertiliser plant acid spill investigation

In late February 2014, a sulphuric acid spill from a storage facility in a fertiliser plant in Uzbek was reported. Now the investigation reveals that it was a seam failure of the tank. Read the article in this link

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Role of HR in Safety

Mr M.K.Rao, Executive Director of India Glycols Limited has written a good article on "Role of HR in Safety". You can read the article in this link.  My thanks to him.

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Seven dead as tanker overturns - The Hindu

Seven dead as tanker overturns - The Hindu



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Process safety management internal audit survey

I would appreciate if, for those who are running PSM systems, you answer this survey (8 questions). Results will be published in the blog later.
Take the survey in this link.


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Fire in chemical unit

A fire in a  chemical unit in Udaipur has gutted the unit. In the pictures in the news report in this link, you can see remnants of barrels that have caught fire. Often, plants store chemicals in barrels on roads due to lack of space. This practice is a waiting time bomb. Barrels exposed to heat from a fire can explode violently and  spread the fire rapidly. 

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Confined space accident kills 7

 The Hindu Business Line has reported a confined space accident in a textile mill in Erode where 7 workers lost their lives. Apparently, the accident took place when maintenance work was taking place in a sunken pit in a ETP, when a valve broke and released poisonous fumes. The would be rescuers ( 6 of them) entered the  pit one by one to rescue the others and died. Please emphasize in your training the importance of rescuers NOT to enter any space for rescue unless they are adequately protected. This incident  is a tragic loss of life
Read about the incident in this link.


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When the back up fails........

 When I was working in Saudi Arabia, the 3000MTD gas based methanol plant was operated with state of the art DCS systems. Just before a planned turnaround, instrument personnel were working with some control room underfloor cables when, by mistake, all power to the DCS displays were lost. It was restored after 30 minutes. The plant parameters were maintained throughout the upset without any safety issue as the controllers in auto were doing their job. However a case study presented in 2012 by Shri KC Tripathy and others of NTPC shows how safety hazards cropped up during "complete and simultaneous DCS failure in two 500MW units"
The case study mentions among other useful learnings, the following:
"All processors (active and redundant) abruptly rebooted at once. Thereby both redundant network & redundant processor concepts of DCS design were defeated".

 Read the case study in this link.



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Common causes of flange leaks

Often flanges are a source of leaks, causing release of hazardous chemicals that may result in a fire or toxic chemical exposure. Read a good article on the basic causes of such leaks in this link.
 

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Process safety - voluntary or regulatory?

I read an interesting editorial in the "Record" about the above subject. Worth reading in this link.


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Lessons from NASA astronaut "water in helmet" incident

In July 2013, during a spacewalk outside the International space station, an astronaut reported water entry into his helmet. He was asked to get back only after he made three calls saying the water didn’t appear to be from a drinking bag. Later it was found out that the drinking bag was not the problem and a choked filter was the cause of the leak. The NASA investigation report mentions some of the reasons for the incident as inadequate training, the crew members and ground misunderstanding the severity of the situation, and a (false) perception that any water leak is likely due to a problem with the drinking bag. Do not normalize deviations!
Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/109814/as-astronauts-helmet-filled-with-water-he-told-nasa-three-times-it-wasnt-from-the-drinking-bag/#ixzz2uuMFin1Z

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A Century of Controversy, Accidents in West Virginia’s Chemical Valley in Lead-up to Spill

A Century of Controversy, Accidents in West Virginia’s Chemical Valley in Lead-up to Spill

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Moving scaffolding near HT cables

In 2012, there was an electrocution incident in China, when painters moving mobile scaffolding contacted a 10000 V electrical line. The CCTV video in this link illustrates the dangers of high voltages. It is graphic and not for the faint hearted. See the video in this link.


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