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[...]
A chemical plant manufacturing basic organic chemicals was partly flooded when the reactors were being washed. The washing water (acrylic emulsions) got mixed with the flood water due to the backflow of the water in the pipeline and in the[...]
At a chemical facility, an explosion and fire occurred around 5 pm inside a laboratory on the first floor of a 4-storey, 400-m² building. The personnel were evacuated and the internal emergency plan activated. Air samples extracted from the premises[...]
