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Organisational and human factors

Toxic release as a result of uncontrolled chemical reaction

  • ALLEMAGNE
An exothermic runaway chemical reaction abruptly occurred within a production facility when an operator initiated an automated sequence to add water inside a multi-purpose batch reactor. The reactor suddenly experienced a pressure build-up due to its foaming content, but the[...]
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Release of styrene following a power cut

  • FRANCE
At 10:46 pm during a thunderstorm, an electrical outage interrupted polystyrene (PS) production at a chemical site where 27 of the 160 employees were on the job. A safety disc broke and styrene was released. The crystal manufactured polystyrene (CMP)[...]
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Burst of a superheated steam pipe in a fertilizer factory

  • FRANCE
At 11:15 pm, a violent and loud bursting occurs within an ammonia (NH3) synthesis unit at a SEVESO-classified nitrogenous fertiliser plant. The convex base welded to a heat-insulated, high-pressure water vapour pipe connected to catalytic reforming equipment had burst prior[...]
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Fire at a 15.000 t storage facility for used tyres

  • GRECE
A large fire broke out at an open used-tire storage in an industrial area, near a recycling plant that had started its operation only two months earlier. The fire expanded fast and covered the whole pile of the tires, estimated[...]
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Explosion in a pharmaceutical factory

  • ITALIE
An explosion occurred around noon while conducting hot work (with a disc saw) on a 320-m³ fixed-roof tank at a pharmaceutical plant employing 240 personnel. The tank cover was blasted 20 m away and the subcontractor performing cutting works was[...]
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Decomposition of fertiliser with emission of nitrous fumes

  • FRANCE
When observing yellow smoke emanating from the chimney of a drying unit located downstream of the fertiliser plant granulator, an employee notified a control room technician; the workshop extraction fan was turned off at 10:30 am in order to limit[...]
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Fire of solar panels on the roof of a warehouse

  • FRANCE
Fire broke out around 3:30 pm on the roof of a 15,000-m² warehouse covered by 1,000 m² of solar panels (totalling some 660 panels). The building, inaugurated in November 2009, had received an HQE (highest environmental quality rating) certification; it[...]
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Explosion in an plant manufacturing polymers

  • FRANCE
In an upper-tier Seveso-rated plant manufacturing polymers used for water treatment applications, and despite the differentiated storage and packaging zones, a technician assigned the morning shift poured by mistake 1 to 2 kg of sodium hypophosphite classified non-hazardous into a[...]
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