Is sugar an explosion hazard ?
(PDF)
- May'08
Yes, if it is a fine powder or dust! Any material
which can burn is capable of causing a catastrophic
dust explosion if it is suspended as a fine dust or
powder in air or other oxidizing atmosphere. On
February 7, 2008 there was a severe explosion in a
sugar refinery near Savannah, Georgia, USA. The
explosion injured more than 30 people, and the death
toll had reached 13 as of the end of March 2008. The
explosion is still being investigated, and the
detailed causes are not yet known. However, the
initial investigation indicates that this was a dust
explosion.
CCPS Process Safety Beacon
Information
(PDF)
- May'08
The CCPS Process Safety Beacon is read by over half
a million process safety and plant personnel in
chemical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, consulting,
insurance companies, government agencies, and other
organizations in the US and worldwide. The
Beacon's target audience is front line manufacturing
personnel, so the topics must relate to process
safety.
Accident Epidemiology and the
RMP Rule: Learning from a Decade of Accident History
Data for the U.S. Chemical Industry
(PDF)
- April'08
This report describes analysis undertaken by an
interdisciplinary team of researchers on accident
history data collected under Clean Air Act, Section
112(r), enacted as part of the Clean Air Act
Amendments of 1990. Section 112(r) is also referred
to as the Risk Management Program or RMP Rule,
because this law and its implementing regulations
impose requirements on facilities that manufacture
or handle certain chemicals that encompass the
development of a Risk Management Program and Plan
for the facility.
Linking OII and RMP*Info Data:
Does Everyday Safety Prevent Catastrophic Loss?
(PDF)
- April'08
We link the Risk Management Program (RMP) database
of accident histories collected by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency for the period
1996-2000 under section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act
Amendments and OSHA reported Occupational Illnesses
and Injuries (OII) for the same period. We explore
various statistical associations between OIIs and
RMP-reported accidents. If we think of OIIs as
reflecting everyday safety performance and RMP
accidents as reflecting major accidents, then the
analysis can be considered a test of whether good
everyday safety performance is a foundation for
preventing or mitigating relatively rare major
accidents. We find only weak evidence that this is
the case for the U.S. chemical facilities reporting
in the RMP database. The paper concludes with some
implications of these findings for industrial risk
management and research.
Predicting and Confirming the
Effectiveness of Systems for Managing
Low-Probability Chemical Process Risks
(PDF)
- April'08
This article addresses the role of a facility’s
process safety management system (PSMS) in
preventing low probability– high consequence (LP–HC)
accidents. We review the rationale for the
hypothesis that a facility’s PSMS is the central
driver of accident prevention, and we discuss how
this rationale has been incorporated implicitly into
the OSHA Process Safety Management standard (PSM) in
1992 and explicitly into both the EU Seveso II
Directive and the USA EPA Risk Management Program
regulation (RMP) in 1996. We then note that the
limited process accident incidence data available to
date have not resolved the issue of determining or
predicting characteristics of a facility’s PSMS that
are likely to be effective in reducing LP–HC
accidents. Based on a variety of considerations, the
authors propose retrospective and prospective
case-control studies
on facilities with and without RMP reported process
accidents using candidate survey instruments to test
which survey factors appear to have the greatest
predictive power for the likelihood of future LP–HC
accidents.
The adequacy of refuges,
escape stairs and management procedures
(PDF)
- April'08
Three years after the explosion that killed 15
workers and injured 180 others at the BP Texas City
refinery, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) today
released a new, comprehensive safety video that
describes the causes of the accident and key safety
lessons.
Three Years after Explosion at
Refinery, CSB Releases New Safety Video on Accident
- Mar'08
Three years after the explosion that killed 15
workers and injured 180 others at the BP Texas City
refinery, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) today
released a new, comprehensive safety video that
describes the causes of the accident and key safety
lessons.
Pressure vessel failure during
Hydrotest
- Jan'08
Photos of a pressure vessel that recently failed
whilst under hydrotest during post fabrication
testing. This vessel was manufactured by a vessel
vendor in China and the plate was of Chinese mill
origin. Unfortunately this is another example of
serious equipment/material failures with equipment
being sourced out of the rapidly developing
economies such as China, Eastern Bloc and others.
These examples are becoming almost a weekly
occurrence now and are exhibiting failure modes not
seen in the mature manufacturing economies since the
1930's. Again we need to ensure vigilance in the
acceptance of manufacturers and once more I stress
the need to know where the base materials are
sourced from.
Oil Tank Fire Caused by Static
Discharge &
Storage Tank Explosion and
Fire in Glenpool, Oklahoma
- Dec''07
An 80,000 barrel (3.6 million gallon, 12,700 cu. M.)
floating roof storage tank exploded and burned while
being filled with diesel oil at a petroleum product
storage terminal. The tank contained approximately
7000 barrels (300,000 gallons, 1,100 cu. M) of
diesel oil at the time of the incident, and had
previously contained gasoline. The fire burned for
21 hours and damaged two nearby storage tanks. There
were no injuries or fatalities, but the total loss
was over two million US dollars, nearby residents
were evacuated, and schools in the area were closed
for two days.
UK HSE Key Programme
3 - Asset Integrity Study
- Nov'07
A three year investigation and the inspection of
nearly 100 offshore installations has resulted in
the offshore industry receiving a stark warning from
the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The sector
was told that while significant improvements had
been made "more must be done!"
Excavation : Trench Safety Management
- Nov'07
NIOSH - Trench Safety Awareness
This Web-based training exercise contains
material on conducting a safe trenching
operation. Topics include the four types of
trench collapse, the frequency and cost of
trench collapses, trench soil types, and common
trench protective systems.
Click here for more
information
This training exercise has been reviewed by
several labour, industry, OSHA and NIOSH
representatives, and reflects their
recommendations. If you identify any issues that
you believe merit correction, please send your
comments to:
Trenchcd@cdc.gov .
Glenpool Tank Fire Expect the Unexpected
- Nov'07
“I have never been to a fire that didn’t present
surprises or complexities at some point during the
event.” This statement from Dwight Williams –
President of Williams Fire & Hazard Control is the
heart and soul of the real challenge before
Industrial Firefighters.
PPG - Controlled Burn Guidance
- Sept'07
These guidelines are jointly produced by the
Environment Agency for England and Wales, the
Environment and Heritage Service for Northern
Ireland, and, the Scottish Environment
Protection Agency. This guidance will help you
decide when and how to use a controlled burn as
part of a fire fighting strategy to prevent or
reduce damage to the environment. You should
consider this guidance on a site by site basis
when developing an incident response plan for
your site.
Hydrogen Safety
for First Responders
- Aug'07
DOE's
Introduction to Hydrogen Safety for First Responders
is a Web-based course that provides an "awareness
level" overview of hydrogen for fire, law
enforcement, and emergency medical personnel. This
multimedia tutorial acquaints first responders with
hydrogen, its basic properties, and how it compares
to other familiar fuels; hydrogen use in fuel cells
for transportation and stationary power; potential
hazards; initial protective actions should a
responder witness an incident; and supplemental
resources including videos, supporting documents,
and links relevant to hydrogen safety.
Abridged versions of the training course will soon
be available in print and on CD via DOE's Energy
Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Information Center at
877-EERE-INFO/877-337-3463.
http://www.hydrogen.energy.gov/firstresponders.html
Explosion Mechanism Advisory
Group report
- Aug'07
The Buncefield Major Incident Investigation Board (MIIB)
has been overseeing a comprehensive investigation of
the incident and has published a number of reports
on its findings. One important aspect of the
incident was that a severe explosion took place,
which would not have been anticipated in any major
hazard assessment of the oil storage depot before
the incident.
The Board invited a team of explosion experts from
academia and industry to form a working group to
advise on the work that would be required to explain
the severity of the Buncefield explosion.