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November 17, 2003
Chlorine Release in Glendale, AZ
A release of chlorine gas from the
DPC Enterprises chlorine repackaging facility in Glendale, Arizona, near
Phoenix. Fourteen people, including ten police officers, required treatment
for chlorine exposure. The release occurred when excess chlorine from a rail
car unloading operation was diverted to a system designed to recapture the
material, known as a scrubber. The scrubber malfunctioned, releasing the
gas.
November 7, 2003
India Vadodara, Nandesari. Jeevan
Chemicals. An oleum [fuming sulphuric acid, but sometimes used to refer to
sulphur trioxide] gas leak occurred. According to reports, the Nandesari
GIDC fire brigade took 30 minutes to respond to the leak, then calling
emergency services support from surrounding industries such as IPCL, GIDC,
GSFC and the VMC, who arrived an hour later. Senior disaster management team
officials reached the site 15 minutes after that. While authorities were
still trying to find the source of the leak, the local panchayat [town
council] helped 300+ residents in surrounding areas to vacate their
homes as many had started complaining of dizziness, respiratory irritation
and coughing. The situation got tense when residents heckled officials at
the site. Ambulances from Deepak Nitrite and surrounding industrial estate
took residents from surrounding areas to local hospitals for first aid.
Eventually, local contractors directed the authorities to a tank in the
Jeevan Chemicals factory from which the leak had occurred. According to the
Offsite Industrial Emergency Control Room secretary: "The extremely low
light conditions, initial confusion and interference from nearby residents
prevented early detection of the source." Jeevan chemicals, which was shut
eighteen months ago, is said to have manufactured methalinic acid [possibly
methacrylic] and used oleum as one of the raw materials. It had two
oleum tanks of one and 20 tonne capacity, according to sources in the
Nandesari Industrial Association (NIA). Authorities said both these tanks
were full. A local contractor who accompanied the team and finally plugged
the leak, said that the one-tonne oleum tank on the third floor was
responsible for the leak: "The base of the tank had one of the flange plates
missing near the valve. This shows that it was a deliberate attempt by
someone who while desperately trying to extract the material from the tank
left the assembly as it is without putting the plates back." Babubhai Patel,
chairman of Nandesari Industrial Association, said there are at least three
industries out of the 210 odd factories that have closed down in Nandesari.
We have constituted a team that would go to these factories and prepare an
audit of the hazardous materials stored in their premises."
October 29, 2003
On the evening of October 29, 2003, a
series of explosions severely burned two workers, injured a third, and
caused property damage to the Hayes Lemmerz manufacturing plant in
Huntington, Indiana. One of the severely burned men subsequently died. The
Hayes Lemmerz plant manufactures cast aluminum automotive wheels, and the
explosions were fueled by accumulated aluminum dust, a flammable byproduct
of the wheel production process.
October 22,2003
Belle Chasse, LA. At least 38 people were
treated for symptoms ranging from vomiting to dizziness after a
ChevronTexaco plant released hydrogen sulphide. The leak was caused when a
sulphur recovery unit tripped offline. The plant's warning sirens sounded
shortly before 18:00, and the company handled the incident and quickly
contained the leak. Residents of Belle Chasse, where the plant is located,
were apparently unaffected by the gas because winds swept it north-east to
Chalmette. People there began arriving at the Chalmette Medical Center,
complaining of nausea, vomiting, dizziness and shortness of breath. The
hospital had to call in extra personnel to deal with the flood of patients
in the emergency room.
October 10, 2003
New Zealand Christchurch. Mercer
Stainless. A stainless steel plant was destroyed by fire. The mix of on-site
chemicals and LPG initially raised fears of a major explosion but
fire-fighters managed to isolate and contain the fire. The building was only
a year old and contained a new $5 million polishing machine. An
administration block and showroom were untouched by the fire. The factory
was empty when the blaze broke out and fire-fighters were only alerted after
workers at the A. W. Fraser factory noticed a strange smell. An eyewitness
from the Fraser plant said the fire was so hot the concrete tilt-slab walls
were bowing in the middle.
October 2, 2003
Vietnam Ba Ria-Vung Tau province.
PetroVietnam. Lot PM3 CAA, located at a sea area jointly controlled by
Vietnam and Malaysia off the coast of southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau province,
experienced its first oil spill. VNA, 10.02 10.02 Vietnam Bach Dang River,
100 km north-east of Hanoi. An explosion in an empty oil tanker, the second
blast in the area this week, killed four people and injured another three.
The explosion happened near the Dinh Vu checkpoint on the Bach Dang River
where the 120-tonne vessel was docked and it took almost four hours to put
out the fire. The vessel was not loaded with any fuel at the time of the
blast.
September 19, 2003
Finland Tornio, 740km north of Helsinki.
Three men were killed in an explosion and fire at a steel plant in
northwestern Finland. The explosion at the AvestaPolarit plant was caused by
a damaged oxygen pipe that set fire to part of the plant. According to the
plant manager: "The three men were either killed by the explosion or in the
ensuing fire. We don't know what caused the pipe to break.'' The fire burned
for 30 minutes before it was extinguished. Workers at the steel smelting
section of the plant were evacuated after the explosion and smelting
operations were halted pending an investigation. The AvestaPolarit plant is
owned by Outokumpu, Finland's largest mining and metals group. It became the
world's second-largest stainless steel maker in 2000 when it merged its
steel operations with Avesta Sheffield to form AvestaPolarit. The government
has appointed a special commission to investigate the accident, Finland's
worst industrial accident in more than a decade.
September 11, 2003
UK North Sea, off the Scottish coast, 185km
north east of the Shetlands Islands. Shell Expro. North Sea oil workers were
killed in an accident on the Brent Bravo oil platform, causing production to
be shut down temporarily. The accident, caused by a gas release near where
the two men were working, led to the helicopter evacuation of 60
non-essential workers. According to a company statement: "Due to the
build-up of gas in the utility leg, the platform was downmanned of all
non-essential personnel to the nearby Brent Alpha and Brent Charlie
platforms. The gas was quickly and safely evacuated." It was initially
thought that pumps to the seabed had carried a "kickback", or pocket of gas,
within an oil well, to the surface, but Shell later said it believed there
was a gas leak in the leg. Subsequently, Unions raised concerns about a
backlog of maintenance on the Brent Bravo, but Shell said the Health and
Safety Executive had given the a clean bill of health to its operations. A
union representative said he felt there could be a connection with concerns
raised over pipes which leak and are then patched. "The suggestion from the
workforce that these lads had gone down to inspect a leak or a patch
suggests to me that it is related to the concerns we raised earlier in the
year," he said.
Sources and Disclaimer:
AcuSafe's Incident News Summary is primarily compiled from news wires, online
sources (www.saunalahti.fi/ility), and from information shared on the U.S.
Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board Chemical Incident Reports
Center. Most sources are in the public domain. An effort has been made to summarize stories only from reputable sources, but neither AcuSafe nor AcuTech Consulting can guarantee the accuracy of the story, nor do they necessarily reflect the views of AcuTech, AcuSafe, and its staff.
All information accessed in this report is public domain information. We make no effort to independently corroborate the accuracy of the incident news stories.
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