Deadly reaction of lime sulphur with NPK solution

An incident where a farm worker was exposed to Hydrogen Sulphide due to mixing of Lime sulphur (mixture of calcium polysulfides formed by reacting calcium hydroxide with sulphur) with NPK solution is highlighted in this link.

MSDS of lime sulphur is given in this link where it mentions acidic materials or dilution with water will cause the release of hydrogen sulfide.



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Article on flange leaks

Even though this article is 9 years old, the causes of flange leaks remain the same. Worth reading in this link.
PS: This is for information only.

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Responsible Care - reinforcing public opinion

The Indian Chemical Council is promoting Responsible Care and trying to motivate organisations into obtaining the RC logo it awards. This is a good initiative but the public needs to have faith in the process. The public are always sceptical of any self regulation by an industry body as they feel that it will be compromised. I have a few suggestions to the ICC to help to make RC more acceptable by the public:

1. The logo should be awarded with the condition that it will be withdrawn if a fatal or reportable accident occurs after awarding the logo. The company then has to go through the whole process for obtaining the logo. ICC must not only publicise the list of companies that have been awarded the logo, but also publicise the names of companies for which the logo has been withdrawn.
2. The best practices of every company that has been awarded the logo should be publicly displayed in ICC website for anyone to emulate.
3. One of the conditions of awarding the logo should be contribution to a fund to improve safety in the SME sector of chemical industries, including fireworks industries. The contribution could be fixed as a percentage of turnover.The improvement of safety in the SME sector of chemical industries should be taken up by ICC themselves and this must be publicised.


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Hydrogen safety in the sulphuric acid industry

Good article - hydrogen safety in the sulphuric acid industry

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A simple slogan

 Yesterday, while driving behind a car, I saw a sticker on  its rear window which said
" WEAR YOUR SEAT BELT - YOU PAID FOR IT"
 A simple yet effective slogan!

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Technology is not a complete substitute

The saga of the missing Malaysian airlines MH370 flight highlights the fact that technology is an enabler but it cannot override the human. The way in which vendors are hard selling process safety technology these days worries me. A typical case is SIL rated instrumented systems. While the statistics and numbers sound very good, no vendor is gong to tell you about the life cycle needs and cost of maintaining these systems.

Nowadays, I also see many cases of the operation staff  left out of the design loop. The net result is that the operator gets a system which leads to work overload during emergencies. Then the vendor hard sells "alarm management software"!!
Somewhere in our journey of process safety management we have forgotten Dr Trevor Kletz's inherent safety philosophy of "keeping it simple".
I often see complicated PSM systems in many "World Class" companies. These systems are "managed" by separate PSM cells.....have we forgotten that the owner of PSM is operations? I often see the systems getting more complicated because the PSM cell needs to justify their existence! (My due apologies if I have hurt anyone).

Having had the fortune to learn about process safety when the word was not in "fashion" , I pray the post bhopal generation of chemical engineers realise that managing process safety is not only about technology........design it for humans who make mistakes.....keep it simple and easy to understand.


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Visakhapatnam pharma unit blast: Condition of three critical - The Hindu

Visakhapatnam pharma unit blast: Condition of three critical - The Hindu

Thanks to Mr Subbu for sending news about the blast.
Ammonia and high temperature are dangerous due to the thermal expansion coefficient of liquid ammonia.

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Update on GAIL pipeline blast

The Hindu: GAIL pipeline blast in AP


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Pipeline fire kills 14 in AP

News filtering in of a GAIL pipeline blast in Andhra Pradesh which has reportedly killed 14 people. Read the story in this link


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Blast, fire in Bathinda refinery, none hurt - The Hindu

Blast, fire in Bathinda refinery, none hurt - The Hindu

You can see the photo of the fire in above link.


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Major fire at Bathinda refinery, no casualties reported - Hindustan Times

Major fire at Bathinda refinery, no casualties reported - Hindustan Times

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Don't neglect pressure gauges -chemical processing

Don't neglect pressure gauges -chemical processing

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