In December 2009, I noted a chemical plant accident in China, which caused 3 people died. The accident occurred when workers were handling carbon black.
Another accident that grabbed my attention was toxic gas leak (hydrogen sulfide, H2S) that caused 1 engineer died at Thai Rayon Public Co. Limited, Thailand.
To read more accidents that happened in December 2009, please click the following links. (more…)
Last June 20, 2009, a maintenance worker was killed when a high-pressure refrigerant line ruptured and four other employees were injured, at a poultry processing plant in Lumberton, U.S (fayobserver.com). The refrigerant was ammonia. The Department of Labor then found some safety violations that lead to the accident.
At least 20 serious safety violations were found. These findings made the states to fine the company by penalties of $73,325. (more…)
It has passed 25 years since Bhopal gas tragedy happened. Methyl isocyanate was released into the air and caused thousands of people died in Bhopal, India. Bhopal gas tragedy is one of the most serious chemical plant accidents in this century. (more…)
U.S Chemical Safety Board (CSB) exposed its initial investigation over the fire explosion on last October 23, 2009, at Puerto Rico fuel storage depot, which is owned by Caribbean Petroleum Corp in Bayamon, San Juan.
According to CSB, the accident was caused by malfunctioning of fuel level monitoring system that made the gasoline tank overfilled. No employees were aware about the tank overfilling since the computerized level monitoring system was not fully operational, as reported by Reuters. (more…)
It is my strong intention to always present chemical plant accident stories in order to give you more inputs for safety improvements. I believe that many similar accidents had happened recurrently. But most of us do not aware about this.
According to OSHA report regarding top 10 workplace safety violations for 2009, violation number increases by 30% compared with last year data.
Read the story below carefully. Take important notes from these stories. And improve your safety system accordingly. (more…)
In the previous post, I have posted about Chemical Safety Board report on explosion at Imperial Sugar Company, USA. Combustible dust sugar was related to that accident. Then, what does a dust explosion mean actually? According to wikipedia, a dust explosion is the combustion of a particle(s) of dust suspended in the air in an enclosed location, resulting in overpressure, thermal radiation, and ensuing projectiles.
From the basic point of view, a fire can only exist whenever an oxidant (oxygen), a combustible material and a source of ignition come together. The three components are famously called by the fire triangle. Meanwhile, in the case of dust explosion, it requires not only the fire triangle components but also combustible dust material must be in an enclosed space or confined space and suspended in the air at the certain concentration. (more…)
The plant incident involving hazardous chemical, fuming sulfuric acid (oleum), which occurred in October 2008, has shown how important a pump shut-off system. According to Chemical Safety Board report released this month, Indspec Chemical Corporation was faulted due to failure to provide a shut off system for transfer pump. (more…)
