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Organisational and human factors

Leakage of fuel oil in an underground pipeline

  • FRANCE
A leak occurred on a pipe running between a coastal depot and a power plant storage site (pipe length: 7,430 m, depth: 2 m, year of construction: 1975, thickness: 5.56 mm, steel composition) during the transfer of heavy fuel no.[...]
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Several explosions on an alcohol vat in a distillery

  • FRANCE
In a sugar refinery, 4 explosions and a basin fire occurred at 4:42 pm following tests on pumps run until 4:15 along with the transfer of 13 m³ of alcohol into a 1,500-m3 empty degassed tank. The internal emergency plan[...]
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Ammonia leakage in a dairy plant

  • FRANCE
In a cheese factory, ammonia (NH3) leaked during the morning in a 4,000 m² (50 x 20 x 4 m) building housing the ice water production unit operating at 0.4 Mfg/hour, with 3 independent refrigeration circuits containing 1 tonne of[...]
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Explosion in a chemical plant

  • ETATS-UNIS
In a chemical plant, 3 empty rail tanker parked on the unloading zone of unit 46 were replaced by 3 full tanker cars: 1 carrying methyl mercaptan (MM) and 2 with chlorine. At 3 am, the 2 chlorine cars were[...]
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Fire on PCB transformers.

  • FRANCE
A fire broke out around 2:50 am in an electrical utility room at a paper mill. Engulfed in the flames, four transformers emptied entirely and a fifth halfway, dispersing a dielectric containing PCB. A prefectural order motivated by a proposal[...]
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Explosion in a silo

  • FRANCE
In a cattle-feed plant during the ensilage of rape oil cakes, an explosion occurred on the return leg of a bucket elevator inside a horizontal silo while maintenance works (grinding and welding on a Redler conveyor) were ongoing in a[...]
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Explosion in a petrol tank

  • FRANCE
In an oil depot, an explosion was followed by fire inside an empty tank allocated to storing premium unleaded gasoline and equipped with a stationary roof and a 5,000-m³ diaphragm float. The accident occurred while 2 subcontractors were scraping the[...]
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Fire in a agro-pharmaceutical industry

  • FRANCE
Within an agro-pharmaceutical industry, phytosanitary products packaged in small quantities and palletised (1-ton loads) ignited underneath an awning positioned against an empty building that had previously contained sulfur in bulk storage. The first alarm sounded at 7:30 pm; for 3[...]
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Flare pipe leak on a butadiene worshop reboiler

  • FRANCE
A butadiene leak occurred inside a chemical plant; its origin was a flare pipe break on a butadiene workshop reboiler. The gas alarm was immediately activated as was the internal emergency plan. 7 tonnes of butadiene escaped, a vehicle crossing[...]
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