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Accidents in small fireworks warehouses

Two serious accidents that recently occurred in France along with others from the more distant past recall the risks associated with handling fireworks in small warehouses or shops, as well as the need to respect pertinent basic workplace rules.
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CO2 extinguishing systems

Gas-based extinguishing processes become attractive when water cannot be used (e.g. computer equipment, audio/video archives, ship engine rooms), yet the associated risks must not be underestimated, as witnessed by the example of CO2 systems.
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Delivery of hazardous material by tank truck

While the delivery of hazardous materials by means of road transport onto an industrial site constitutes a relatively commonplace operation, all too often it leads to overly taxing the onsite reception capacities. In addition to generating economic losses, these discharges[...]
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Mix of incompatible products

The accidents presented in this flash involve chemical reactions between incompatible products inadvertently placed into contact with one another. Encountered in all types of activities, such accidents are frequent and occur not only during the delivery of chemical products (wrong[...]
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Firework shows

Several recent accidents in France (along with others dating further back) have recalled that the handling of fireworks in small warehouses, depots, during the preparation or execution of fireworks shows, carry risks that must be prevented at least through regulatory[...]
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Triggering of the foam extinction system inside a chemicals firm

  • FRANCE
At 6:56 pm inside a warehouse for phytosanitary products assigned an upper-tier Seveso classification, the activation of a foam-based automatic extinction system installed in a 1,000-m² cell brought fire-fighters to the scene 44 min later. By the time responders arrived,[...]
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Leak on a kerosene pipeline

  • ALLEMAGNE
A kerosene leak (A1 jet category) was detected on a pipeline (nominal diameter DN: 108, pressure: 13.8 bar, operational since: 1942) connecting a refinery to a storage area outside the oil platform site. The quantity of lost product was estimated[...]
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Paraffin leak on a pipeline in a refinery

  • ALLEMAGNE
During transfer of a hydrocarbon mix from a river barge to a refinery storage zone, a defect at the level of the pipe compensator caused a leak around 3 am. A number of steps had been taken the day before to[...]
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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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Explosion and fire at a chemical plant

  • PAYS-BAS
In a chemical plant producing mainly cellulose derivatives, an explosion and fire occurred at about 4 pm during the restart of a production line stopped for 9 h after a breakdown. The commissioning of the vacuum belt filter by the[...]
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