Theme for the month - Nitrogen related incident

A driver of a small-scale liquid nitrogen delivery service vehicle was making a delivery. He connected his transfer hose to the customer-installed tank, which was situated in a semibasement. After he had started to fill, one of the customer’s employees told him that a cloud of vapour was forming around the tank. The driver stopped the filling operation and returned to the area of the tank to investigate. On reaching the bottom of the stairs, he collapsed, but fortunately he was seen by one of the customer’s staff that managed to put on breathing apparatus, go in and drag the man to safety. The driver fully recovered. Unknown to the driver, the bursting disc of the storage tank had failed prior to the start of his fill and as soon as he started filling, nitrogen escaped in the vicinity of the storage tank. The oxygen deficient atmosphere overcame him when he went down to investigate without wearing his portable oxygen monitor, which would have warned him of the oxygen deficiency. The installation had been condemned and was no longer being used. Not only was the tank situated in a semibasement, but the relief device was also not piped to a safe area.

Source:EIGA

API Pandemic planning giude

API Pandemic planning guide

Theme for the month - Nitrogen related incident

Welding work with an argon mixture was performed inside a road tanker. During lunchtime the welding torch was left inside the tank, and as the valve was not properly closed, argon escaped. When the welder re-entered the tank, he lost consciousness, but was rescued in time. Equipment that is connected to a gas source, except air, must never be left inside confined spaces during lunch breaks, etc. Merely closing the valves is not a guarantee against an escape of gas. If any work with inert gas is carried out in vessels, etc. take care with adequate ventilation or the use of proper breathing equipment.
Source:EIGA

Theme for the month - Nitrogen related incident

A man was overcome on entering a steel tank which had been shut up for several years. The atmosphere inside the tank was no longer capable of supporting life due to removal of oxygen from the air by the rusting of steel. A worker from a contractor company had to carry out welds inside a vessel. The vessel had been under a nitrogen blanket, but was ventilated with air before work started. In order to be on the safe side, the welder was asked to wear a fresh air breathing mask. Unfortunately a fellow worker connected the hose to a nitrogen line and the welder died from asphyxiation.
This accident happened because the nitrogen outlet point was not labelled and had a normal air hose connection.
Source:EIGA

Confined Spaces: Silent & Invisible Killers

Confined Spaces: Silent & Invisible Killers

H2S gas generated due to use of a biodegradable soy based cleaner.

H2S gas generated due to use of a biodegradable soy based cleaner.

H2S incident during tank sampling

H2S incident during tank sampling

Importance of wearing a personal gas detector during confined space entry

Two incidents highlight the importance of personal gas detectors that are worn by the person entering a confined space. Read about the incidents in this link (Source; US Coast guard)
I myself had an escape 25 years ago, from a confined space which had CO in it due to improper blinding, because my personal alarm went off.

Accident due to improper LOTOTO

This incident highlights the importance of LOTOTO. You cant mess around. You have only one life. Read the incident in this link
Source: US coast guard

Air Receivers and Relief Valves

An accident with an air receiver teaches us many lessons. Read about it in this link
Source: US coast guard

Engineer dies inside a confined space

An experienced engineer went inside a confined space in a ship. Unfortunately, the latches on the entrance hatch closed by gravity once he was inside and he could not come out. He was found dead later. Read the incident in this link
Source: US coast guard

TANK EXPLOSION

TANK EXPLOSION
An incident where a damaged pump caused an explosion
Source: US Coast Guard

Danger! Improper Bonding During Gas Freeing Can Have Explosive Results!

US Coast Guard has issued a safety alert on Danger! Improper Bonding During Gas Freeing Can Have Explosive Results! 
Important lessons to be learnt for us in the CPI
Source: US Coast Guard

Cathodic protection systems must be maintained

An incident of a full bore rupture of an oxygen transmission pipeline occurred in France. Prior to the rupture there were no indications of any leak
The investigation determined that the rupture was caused by the presence of an extended thinning zone of the pipe due to external corrosion. This corrosion was due to:

• The pipe was immersed under the groundwater table during a part of the year. Groundwater brings dissolved oxygen.
• Coating was disbanded, thus cathodic protection was inefficient in this zone (shielding effect).
• The groundwater was renewed by thermal convection in the disbanded area through coating faults, with draining of corrosion products. Thermal convection was due to temperature difference between soil and gas just after compressor discharge

Source: EIGA 2020: Day two recap https://www.gasworld.com/eiga-2020-day-two-recap/2018388.article#.XjPM6yilu6Y.twitter

CO2 can kill - Dont underestimate it

An accident occurred in a building where dry ice was produced and involved a CO2 storage tank.
A hissing noise was coming from the valve of a tank . This was a leak resulting from the power being switched off days earlier. The power switch off also unfortunately cut the power to the CO2 indicator in the room. A security guard who came to investigate the hissing noise,  died after exposure to high CO2 concentration.
Source:https://www.gasworld.com/eiga-2020-day-one-recap/2018387.article#.XjPLaAAsYeQ.twitter

Beware of CO!

On November 7, 2007 a Pipeline X-Ray Inspection Technician was fatally overexposed to carbon monoxide levels while he was working in a pick-up truck, bed mounted camper shell-type dark room. The deceased had been working earlier the same day x-raying pipe welds and developing the film on a large pipeline project. At the time of the incident, the employee was working inside of the dark room developing a series of x-ray films that had been taken earlier in the morning on the same day. The deceased was an experienced technician in the industrial x-ray field with many years of experience.
Significant Factors:
•Employee was working in a dark room mounted in the bed of a pick-up truck, developing x-ray film, when he was overcome by carbon monoxide gas.
•The investigation was able to determine that the source of the carbon monoxide was a gas powered portable generator that was being used to power the small camper-shell type truck mounted dark room. Air sample testing revealed that the levels of carbon monoxide exceeded 500 ppm when working conditions were re-created by investigators. Another contributing factor was the weather conditions, specifically the wind direction in regards to the location of the working location. The dark room was located down wind from the placement of the portable generator, on the truck tailgate. The wind speed on the date of the accident was estimated to be 25-40 mph.
Recommendations:
•Brief all employees on the facts and circumstances of this fatal mishap.
•Brief/retrain all employees on the danger of working around equipment that produce carbon monoxide.
•Require that all portable gas generators that produce carbon monoxide gas to be located a minimum distance of five feet from structures having combustible walls and/or other combustible material. Keep exhaust gas from entering an area through windows, door ventilation intakes or other openings. Remind employees to note the wind direction and always maintain good ventilation by keeping carbon monoxide producing equipment down wind from the working area.
•Install carbon monoxide alarms in the camper shell-type dark rooms.

Source: http://wyomingworkforce.org/

Hazards when Purging Hydrogen Gas-Cooled Electric Generators

Hazards when Purging Hydrogen Gas-Cooled Electric Generators
Source: osha.gov

Small bore rubing failure incident

https://www.iadc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/SA-18-03.pdf

Rupture disc safety alert

https://www.bsee.gov/sites/bsee.gov/files/safety-alerts//safety-alert-338-pressure-safety-element-rupture-disk-failures.pdf

Getting the Most Out of Your Rupture Discs - Fike

Getting the Most Out of Your Rupture Discs - Fike