Blog - Page 27 of 54 - La référence du retour d'expérience sur accidents technologiques

Toxic release as a result of uncontrolled chemical reaction

21/09/2010
Accident

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[...]

BLEVE of a propane tanker and fire

27/07/2010
Accident

Fire broke out around 11:40 pm on the front bumper of a propane tanker lorry parked near the vehicle repair shop at a company operating as a gas bottle transporter and broker of bulk liquid and liquefied hydrocarbons. This 200-employee[...]

Paraffin leak on a pipeline in a refinery

17/07/2010
Accident

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[...]

Release of styrene following a power cut

14/07/2010
Accident

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)[...]

Burst of a superheated steam pipe in a fertilizer factory

28/06/2010
Accident

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[...]

Fire at a 15.000 t storage facility for used tyres

20/06/2010
Accident

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[...]

Buried for 36 years at a depth of 2.5 m on a Seveso-rated plant involved in liquefying air on behalf

13/06/2010
Accident

Buried for 36 years at a depth of 2.5 m on a Seveso-rated plant involved in liquefying air on behalf of Lorraine's regional industry, an oxygen (O2) pipeline pressurised at 40 bar burst at 1:45 pm along the property boundary,[...]

Explosion in a pharmaceutical factory

10/06/2010
Accident

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[...]

Naphtha pipeline rupture at an underground salt cavern storage site

01/05/2010
Accident

Around 7:20 pm, at the time of injecting naphtha originating from a refinery, a steel pipeline (DN 500-62 bar: 7 mm thick) burst open at a site dedicated to underground hydrocarbon storage using saline cavities in the heart of the[...]

Decomposition of fertiliser with emission of nitrous fumes

08/02/2010
Accident

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[...]