Around 9:50 am, fire burned through a stockpile of 5 million tyres, spreading to an 8-storey building also used as a warehouse. Thick black smoke was visible 40 km away. Six dwellings were evacuated and 35 individuals housed elsewhere. A[...]
A detonation occurred at 6:45 pm in a reactor on a pharmaceutical site. A worker sustained burns to the face. The device was placed under permanent inerting with nitrogen (N2). The most recent reaction held, a hydrogenation step, had been[...]
On a Monday morning, a huge fire destroyed an archive warehouse comprising 2 cells, one measuring 3,630 m² and 14 m high (5 archive storage levels accessible by elevated walkways) the other 1,838 m² and 8.5 m high, with a[...]
For the 2nd time in less than 24 hours, the window on an 80-m³ beer tank in a brewery exploded after pressure in the container had risen. Plant activity was suspended for the time needed to determine the precise cause[...]
In a brewery, the porthole on an 80-m³ beer vat exploded as tank pressure was being increased. The fermentation process involved 2 phases: a start-up period with atmospheric discharge of the air/carbon dioxide (CO2) mix for 10 to 16 hours,[...]
A propane leak occurred on a loading station in an LPG depot that distributes product to trucks. The depot manager secured the site by pressing the emergency button, in accordance with the site's standard operating procedure. The emergency services were[...]
In a SEVESO-rated oil depot at 5:20 am, a truck driver notified a technician after observing an anomaly on pumping plant no. 1. The technician manually closed the pump feed valve, and the site was placed in safe operating mode[...]
A phenomenon of exceptional violence Between 20 and 120 tonnes of a stock containing more than 300 tonnes of ammonium nitrate refuse detonated in a fertiliser plant. The causes and circumstances surrounding the accident would give rise to several investigations[...]
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.[...]
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[...]
