Fire broke out on the furnace of a hydrodesulphurisation (HDS) unit for refinery diesel. Flames and thick black smoke, containing CO2 and SO2, were visible at the smokestack. The site was locked down 5 min after detection of the accident.[...]
During a routine inspection of a spherical 2,000-m³ propane tank (previous test date: 2002) located in an LPG depot, the facility manager heard a whistling sound caused by a leak. The origin was a 1" tube positioned 2.50 m from[...]
A gaseous oxygen (O2) pipe failed at around 4 am in a liquid oxygen production unit located in a port area. This pipe, most of which was buried underground, crossed the River Rhine to supply a German steelworks. The pressure[...]
Around 11:20 am, an explosion ripped through a building of a facility used to manufacture fireworks. Extended by an awning, the building in question contained 2 parts separated by a reinforced wall. According to the facility manager, 2 employees beneath the[...]
One man was killed and another seriously injured in a dust explosion in a particleboard manufacturing facility. In the manufacturing process, wood and flax shives are mixed with a resin, then pressed 210 °C. The heating medium (mineral oil) is[...]
A flash of LPG occurred a refinery during a transfer operation between a fixed storage tank and a tanker truck. On the day of the accident, a tanker was being loaded when the screw-type connection between the loading arm and the[...]
The safety disc on a reactor broke during an oxidation reaction at a chemical plant. The reaction medium emitted from the gas washing towers, i.e. a soda effluent (pH = 10) loaded with cyanide (6 ppm), partially vaporised and destroyed[...]
A chemical platform emitted into the atmosphere 1,586 kg of monomer vinyl chloride (MVC) (i.e. a rate of 7.5 kg/sec of MVC). The accident occurred at 5:15 am while loading an autoclave with MVC, as the manual "drain first" valve[...]
On 16/01, the police informed the environmental inspection authorities of the presence of suspicious flows on the site of a chemical plant. During an inspection of the establishment on that same day, the environmental inspection authorities noted, at the bottom[...]
During the re-start phase of an electrolysis workshop in a chemical plant, chlorine (Cl2) gas leaked from a pipeline in a confined chlorine liquefaction unit. The operators shutdown the facilities and evacuated the premises. The internal emergency plan of the[...]
