Fire broke out in a wholesale hardware store located in the city centre at the site of a former foundry. The facility was storing in small packets 14 tonnes of sodium chlorate and 33,000 litres of flammable liquids (alcohol, solvents,[...]
20 t of acrolein was released into the Rhone River. The manufacturing unit was undergoing its annual shutdown at the time and the neutralisation ponds (2 x 250 m³) were under repair. For the last four months, the tank cleaning[...]
A chemical plant that had stopped its production for the weekend released a toxic cloud containing 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzodioxin into the atmosphere : 6½ hours earlier, at the end of the shift, the production cycle of 1,2,4,5-trichlorophenol had been stopped while only[...]
An explosion occurred on a Monday morning upon resuming activity in an LPG warehouse featuring a filling station. According to the facility layout, the electrical installation was located in the maintenance workshop, which also contained air compressors, at a distance[...]
Inside a powder factory, 2 series of explosions occurred at a 75-second interval around 1:15 pm, killing 3 and injuring 81 (60 employees, 20 nearby residents), 2 of whom in critical condition. When the forklift operator for Building 211 (intermediate[...]
A flash followed by a fire and explosion occurred at an LPG filling station. The building depot was divided into several zones: a carrousel for filling 13-kg propane bottles, a 35-kg bottle-filling zone, a testing zone, a palletizing platform, and[...]
A cyclohexane cloud violently exploded at a caprolactam plant; 28 employees were killed, and a total of 89 individuals were seriously hurt, 53 of them among the general public. Property loss was considerable: buildings destroyed within a 600-m radius, 1,820[...]
The powder drying building at a gunpowder factory exploded at 8:35 am, killing the 2 employees working inside on the spot. The blast of the explosion also caused collapse of the building located opposite that had been used to cut[...]
Basin 3 at a coal mine broke and released 500,000 m³ of coal sludge (water, dust, clay, lower-grade coal and impurities), which swept away Basins 2 and 1. A 10-m high wave was unleashed, engulfing 16 small towns. 125 of[...]
In a farm courtyard on the outskirts of a village, a liquid ammonia (NH3) hose broke during the transfer of a fixed tank (7.2 m³) to a mobile cistern (3.7 m³). Since the outdoor temperature was 24°C, the pressure level[...]
