WEST FERTILISER PLANT EXPLOSION UPDATE-5

 A reader has pointed out the following:
'As I understand it, this facility was a storage and retail operation selling directly to farmers. Thus the facility would receive ammonium nitrate in bulk by rail, store it and then sell it to farmers for soil application. I do not believe there was any "manufacturing" of ammonium nitrate on the premises. While the fire may have started in another area of the facility and spread to the ammonium nitrate storage area, these facts are not known at this time. Rather than speculate using incomplete information, lets wait for the fire cause and allow folks to do their job".

I agree with him!
 

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

WEST FERTILISER PLANT EXPLOSION UPDATE 4

A news report  mentions that investigators say that the explosion did not involve the ammonia tanks. Read the report  in this link

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

Fire in refinery during maintenance work

A major refinery in USA experienced a fire during maintenance work in a heat exchanger in a catalytic hydro desulphurisation unit. 12 contract workers were reportedly injured. Read about the incident in this link

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

WEST FERTILIZER PLANT EXPLOSION - UPDATE 3

A news article mentions that the residences and other complexes were built over the years surrounding the fertilizer plant that was started in 1962. While this needs to be investigated, we, In India need to enforce facility siting rules to prevent the unauthorized development around a chemical plant.

Read the article in this link.

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

WEST FERTILIZER PLANT EXPLOSION UPDATE 3

While not jumping to conclusion about the reason for the explosion, the photos before and after the explosion indicate that ammonium nitrate that was stored exploded after an initial fire in some other section of the plant, that spread to the area where ammonium nitrate was stored.
Compare the photos of the plant before the explosion (Courtesy: Google Earth) and after the explosion, courtesy AP:
Before the explosion:

After the explosion:

From the photos, it appears that the fire first started in the manufacturing area for ammonium nitrate ( read this link from Wikipedia about the process) and then spread to the storage area of ammonium nitrate.

There are a number of pictures in this link of the plant after the explosion and looks like the bullets and ammonia trailers were spared the wrath of the explosion.


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

WEST FERTILIZER PLANT EXPLOSION UPDATE 2

The NY daily news has reported that "the fertilizer plant that exploded had 1350 times the amount of ammonium nitrate that would have raised red flags.The factory in West, Texas, did not report its massive amount of the potentially explosive fertilizer to the Department of Homeland Security, a source familiar with DHS operations said. At least 14 people died and more than 200 were injured following the blast on Wednesday".

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/texas-fertilizer-plant-massive-amounts-unreported-ammonium-nitrate-article-1.1322766#ixzz2R3p4bwab

Read another associated article in this link. 

By the way, the ammonia synthesis industry has completed 100 years of operations. Read an interesting update on this event by BASF in this link. 

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

INFORMATIVE LINK ON WEST FERTILIZER PLANT EXPLOSION

Worth a read:
 http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/04/18/the-texas-fertilizer-plant-explosion-is-horrific-but-how-common-is-this/

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

UPDATE ON TEXAS FERTILISER PLANT EXPLOSION

News reports indicate that the Fertilizer plant that exploded held an estimated 54,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia to produce ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer.


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

HUGE EXPLOSION IN TEXAS FERTILISER PLANT

Thanks to Abhay Gujjar and Ravi Varma for sending details of a huge explosion in a fertilizer plant in Texas. Reportedly there have been many casualties.  Read the news report and graphic video of the explosion in this link.

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

Fukushima - status

Thanks to Sanjeevi for sending this article on the status of the Fukushima disaster clean up. It is scary! Read it in this link.

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

Regulatory oversight of PSM

There may be regulations and regulations but regulatory oversight (checking of implementation by legal authorities involved) need to be strong to enforce the regulations - this is one of the lessons learnt from the refinery fire in California. In India, too there are many good regulations but the problem comes when enough manpower and competency is not available with the regulatory authorities.
Read the article on the lessons learnt from a regulatory point of view from the refinery incident in California in this link.        http://www.mercurynews.com/top-stories/ci_22966315/federal-officials-say-regulatory-system-needs-overhaul-wake


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

Accident in a refrigeration plant

Thanks to Satya Subrahmanyam for sending details about an accident in  a diary that killed three people, where according to Deccan Chronicle,  "An oil separator exploded due to reported electro-mechanical failure and the entire refrigeration unit caught fire. The blast occurred an hour after work started in the morning".
Read the article in this link. 
Read another associated article in this link 


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

Ammonia leak in Urea plant

An ammonia leak in an urea plant in North India has affected 8 workers according to a news report. The shift in charge and a DGM were arrested and later released on bail. Read the news article in this link.


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

CSB statement on Chevron refinery fire

The CSB has posted their statement about the Chevron refinery fire.An important statement is given below:
"The CSB also has identified deficient management of change reviews conducted by Chevron where more corrosion resistant metallurgy such as 9CR was identified as needed for crude unit high temperature service that could have addressed the piping circuit that failed. However, this more corrosion resistant metallurgy was not implemented more broadly in crude unit high temperature service. Under the current regulatory system Chevron cannot be cited for conducting “ineffective” MOC’s – they are only required to simply conduct them and implement agreed upon actions. Too many of the elements of the PSM regulation simply require paper procedures or activities,rather than concrete measures toreduce risk at every opportunity"
Read the CSB statement in this link.

.

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

Accidents and gas releases at a smelter

Read the article in this link

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

Beware of the alligator in a PSSR!!

A participant in a recent training session told me of an incident where a cross country pipeline was being welded in marshy territory. The job was completed for the day and the next morning when the welder approached the pipe to start his job, an alligator which had entered the pipe in the night caught him and fatally wounded him.
I am reminded of such "alligators"  when people do not conduct a PSSR properly. Hidden hazards ("Alligators") will be waiting for you and will kill you when you least expect it. Take PSSR's seriously!


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

Another sight glass incident

A worker died at a refinery when he was exposed to propane and HF when a sight glass ruptured. Read about the accident in this link.

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

Refinery tank fire - lessons learnt

In 1995 two petrol tanks caught fire in a refinery in Gujarat. See the presentation in this link and learn lessons from the incident.

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

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"

Cell phone triggered IOC fire?

A news item in Hindustan Times mentions that an interim investigation suspects that contractors carried their cell phones to the top of the petrol tank which caught fire. It quotes the IOC's interim report as “It appears that the contractors’ workmen had climbed the tank and may have inadvertently provided the source of ignition.”
Read the article in this link.

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

Tragic accident due to lack of Lock Out Tag Out

 In a tragic accident, a production engineer lost his life when he entered a machine that was not         de energised, when someone accidentally started it. His colleague, who was about to enter the machine jumped out when it started and ran to stop it, but it was too late. Never underestimate the importance of lock out/ tag out/try. Read the details about the incident in the Times of India article in this link.
 
Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"

Methanol tanker fire incident

Read about an incident of a methanol tanker fire during unloading in this link. 

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

Turbines: Mechanical or electrical trip system testing?

Turbines: Mechanical or electrical trip system testing?

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

Refinery incidents

 The OISD (Oil Industry Safety Directorate) has these incidents in their website. Share it with all your colleagues:

Electrocution incident in refinery

Fatal incident due to H2S exposure

Crude oil pipeline leak

Explosion in floating roof tank

Flash fire LPG tank truck

Acid gas KO vessel exposure incident

Corroded pipeline incident

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

Another confined space accident

Three workers of a factory have died after entering a furnace oil tank. The oil pump which supplies a furnace was not working and the three had entered the tank to remove the oil in buckets when they were asphyxiated

Read about the incident in this link.
 
Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"

Challenges for process safety management in India

If we want to prevent another Bhopal type of disaster in India, a number of actions have to be taken on various fronts -industry, legislation, education etc. Please read my thoughts in this article, available in this link.
Hope to hear your comments.

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

Another fire at IOC terminal

A petrol tank at the Hazira terminal of IOC has caught fire and efforts are underway to control the fire. See details and photos in this link. I hope the investigation report is made public just like the major fire at Jaipur in 2009.


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

Where do your safety valves discharge?

A recent incident in a plant due to power failure caused a safety valve to pop and release toxic chemical to the atmosphere. The residents around the plant complained. The safety valve discharged to a vent stack. Check where your safety valves discharge. Even though the codes allow discharge to atmosphere in certain cases, the weather conditions at the time of discharge can never be predicted and dispersion modelling can never be 100% accurate.
 
Contribute to the surviving victims of Bhopal by buying my book "Practical Process Safety Management"

Dangers of oxidising chemicals

Oxidizing chemicals give off oxygen or other oxidizing substances and also include materials that react chemically to oxidize combustible materials. Oxidizing chemicals can be severe fire and explosion hazards. Read a good description in this link. 

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

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013

To all my readers, wish you and your family a very happy, healthy and safe 2013!
I request readers to share some incidents from their experience to benefit all.

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