On 16 August, the battery of a capacitor in an electrical cabinet burst into flames in a paint manufacturing plant. Smoke triggered the alarm. The safety mechanisms cut off the site’s main power supplies. In-house fire-fighters responded, the internal emergency plan was activated and external fire-fighters remained on standby. Loss of the electrical utility resulted in the safety shutdown of the equipment, including a reactor. The reagents were drained into suitable isolation tanks. With a view to restarting the installations, the company decided to transfer the 48 kg of peroxide from the safety tank to a 200 l drum while diluting it in order to stabilise it. The drum was placed against a wall pending removal prior to destruction the next day.

However, during the incident debriefing on the day before, at around midday, the drum lid was blown off due to the degradation of the diluted peroxide. The internal emergency plan was re-activated. Around thirty employees were evacuated, and a safety perimeter was set up. The in-house fire-fighters sprayed the drum and deployed absorbents to prevent the potentially polluted cooling water from spilling into the stormwater network. The drum of peroxide was then placed in a 1,000 l tank filled with water. The internal emergency plan was lifted at around 1:15 pm and the staff returned to the rooms. The employees cleaned up the area while the operator finalised the invitations to tender for the waste removal and disposal. None of the safety mechanisms or production equipment were damaged. The reactor and its safety tank were rapidly switched back on.

Additions will be made to the warning procedure in the internal emergency plan, and the safety procedure and its subsequent management will be formalised.