During the production of biogas by means of an organic waste reclamation process, a release of hydrogen sulphide (H2S) killed 3 employees and a truck driver who had come to unload slaughterhouse waste. The high concentration of H2S in the[...]
Two technicians working with a subcontractor died from anoxia in a refinery while carrying out maintenance work on a down reactor that was part of a hydrocracking unit. One of the technicians descended (or perhaps fell?) into a reactor filled with[...]
In a storage area of a refinery, a tank buckled at 6:35 pm, causing 37,000 m³ of crude oil to pour out like a wave. In less than 15 min, the site's 4-hectare retention basin was covered 1 m deep[...]
Around 6.15 am, a rupture disk at a chemical site opened on a grease cylinder of the medium return pressure system (MPR) on one of the lines in the polyethylene workshop that had been shut down for programmed maintenance; 1.4[...]
In a plant operating 6 metal surface treatment lines (total bath volume: 196 m³), an operator observed around 8:15 pm that 1,000 liters of cyanide alkaline copper had spilled into a concrete retention basin after an output pipe detachment on[...]
A rupture disk in a plastics factory opened on the medium pressure return (MPR) line of a compressor due to a pressure increase on discharge side of the primary compressor, resulting in the release of 3.2 t ethylene into the[...]
At a pyrotechnics plant, 5.6 kg of an HMX/Viton mix detonated around 9:25 am during compression, causing the deflagration of 14 kg of powder explosive held in a barrel. Detonation occurred upon reaching maximum compressive force in a high-capacity isostatic[...]
A pipeline used to transport gaseous chlorine (Cl2) exploded between a chemical platform (run by the producer) and an elastomer manufacturing site (user). The pipeline, built in 1961 for the transport of hydrochloric acid (HCl), had been operated since 1986[...]
An ammonia container or pressurised drum (NH3) was leaking within a frozen foods warehouse located in an industrial estate. The accident occurred at the time a refrigerating unit condenser was being replaced after being partially emptied of its NH3 contents[...]
At 1.20 pm, a violent explosion rocked a gasoline isomerisation unit in a refinery. Having been shut down for maintenance one month earlier, the separator was being restarted at 2 am. The operators began filling the raffinate splitter with highly[...]
