Chemical Plant Safety Resources

In this article, I will show you a case study about electrostatic hazards in chemical plant that can cause explosion and fire.

Electrostatic or static electricity had triggered an explosion and fire at an Americhem Sales Corp. building, in Midwest, US, two weeks ago. The electrostatic caused a catalytic spark during loading and unloading trailers and ignited about 500 gallons of mineral spirits.

The above preliminary investigation of the accident was published on lansingstatejournal.com.

According to thefreedictionary.com, electrostatic or static electricity is created when two objects that are not good electrical conductors are rubbed together, and electrons from one of the object rub off onto the other. (more…)

There are two kinds of chemical plant shut down, i.e. planned shutdown and emergency or unplanned shutdown. An example of planned shutdown is as preparation for Turn Around or yearly preventive maintenance programs. Emergency plant shutdown can be triggered by many factors, such like electric power failure, machinery failure, instrumentation trouble and many more.

In both shutdown cases, there are safety precautions for shutdown activities of chemical plants that need to be taken into account. Such safety precautions are required to prevent potential hazards that commonly appear during plant shut down.

In fact, many people may underestimate chemical plant safety in shutdown condition. Of course there may no pumps running, no reactions occur or production process. But various potential hazards such as over pressure, fire and explosion still exist, which could present real danger to the plant and people inside it. (more…)

Many safety experts suggest workplace safety tips for better work conditions in the plant site. However, many workers and employers do not realize that in the manufacturer manual books there are many important safety tips they have to do actually.

The safety tips inside the manufacturers manual book is very essential because the manufacturers know well about the equipments they supply. They have determined special safety precautions that users should pay attention to.

Generally, in manufacturer manual books of machineries and equipments are described special guidance on installation, operation, troubleshooting and maintenance. You can also find some pages inside the manufacturer manual books ‘warning points’, which mention things that users must avoid. (more…)

Middletown power plant exploded on last 7 February, when natural gas vent operation was being done. The accident caused at least 6 people died and several others injured. Several similar accidents had also occurred in the past.

In the Middletown power plant explosion, there were some important notes that we could take whenever we do similar operation. Chemical Safety Board said Middletown explosion was due to lack of safety measures. (more…)

Hydrostatic test is used for confirming mechanical integrity of installed pressure vessels and pipe lines. It has to be completed before putting the pressure vessels and pipe lines in use.

According to ASME Section VIII Division I, hydrostatic pressure is conducted at the pressure of 1.5 times design pressure. If a vessel is design for holding 1.0 kg/cm2.g pressure, the hydrostatic pressure test has to be done at 1.5 kg/cm2.g. (more…)

ball valve

There are many drain valves around the plant site. These valves can be installed at equipments or pipe lines. Generally, they are operated only at certain conditions such as for draining condensate and depressurized equipment or piping line. In this case, we talk about ball valve with valve handle type as shown by the image on left.

However, these drain valves may be operated accidentally, hit by plant operators or misoperation, which potentially creating an emergency situation. As an example, if the drained material is highly flammable liquid. (more…)

Because carbon monoxide is odorless and colorless, many workers in the plant site do not realize its existence in the workplace. Thus, preventive measures hold fundamental safety function in order to reduce carbon monoxide generation, avoid concentration buildup, alert workers about its existence and prevent carbon monoxide poisoning.

You may have established some preventive measures against CO. But the list below may give you another idea for completing hazard controls against CO. (more…)