Runaway reactions are a major source of industrial accidents. They can occur in a wide array of sectors, including chemicals, petrochemicals, food processing, plastics and rubber manufacturing, and metalworking and are primarily caused by a loss of process control. The[...]
At 9:20 a.m., the temperature inside a 4000-l reactor used to manufacture an organomagnesium compound at a chemical plant abruptly rose. At 9:30 a.m., the employees in the shop began flooding the reaction medium with water. As a precaution, the internal emergency[...]
The ARIA database on technological accidents lists 26,271 events in French industrial establishments between 1 January 1992 and 31 December 2016. This large sample allows to give some trends on the exposure of the territories (regions, county) to the industrial[...]
At around 3○a.m., a deep-seated fire broke out in an outdoor 50,000○m3 woodchip storage in a waste recycling facility (24○m high, located on the facility's property line). White smoke was emitted above the urban zone and the highway. Access to[...]
A computer attack on an industrial control system (SCI) can cause an accident or a degraded operating mode in a factory. This document, with pedagogical vocation, illustrates through examples extracted from the ARIA database some cases that could lead to[...]
At around 9:00 p.m., phosgene and chlorobenzene began leaking inside the containment of a chlorinated chemicals plant. The leak was detected by analysers inside the containment. The analysers' control system automatically directed the air inside the bubble towards the caustic scrubber.[...]
In early March 2017, the ARIA database identified 349 events involving fittings and seals/gaskets. These elements are often encountered on pipe flanges and are also essential sealing components for valves or other equipment. Insufficiently tightened flange bolts and deficient leak[...]
A tank of diesel fuel at an oil terminal began leaking its contents at around midnight. The fuel had been unloaded from an oil tanker. A total of 100 l leaked out and formed a floating layer on the surface of[...]
Numerous forms of corrosion have been found on steel equipment used in the manufacture or transport of biogas. Three corrosion degradation modes are presented here based on events that occurred in France. It seems that corrosion should be taken into[...]
When operating an industrial site, it is essential to research its economic optimisation, though systematic reasoning in terms of the cost/benefit ratio has its limitations! Minimising the risks when the initial signs of aging appear or trying to keep one's[...]
