Pollution
Humain
Environnement
Economique

Around 9 am outside the buildings of an aluminium smelter, a leak occurred on one of the 2 safety valves located on the lower part of a 40-m³ oxygen tank filled to 60% at a pressure of 9 bar. The site watchman notified the fire department. First responders set up a safety perimeter along with a hose for protection purposes. A company maintenance technician stopped the leak around 10:30 am by switching the 3-way valve, making it possible to isolate the defective safety valve while bringing the response team’s valve online. The volume of O2 discharged was estimated at 2.8 m³.

A valve malfunction caused this discharge; the defective part was replaced 3 days later by the gas supplier. The smelter operator asked this supplier to provide maintenance rules for these systems and a preventive replacement calendar, he also plans inform the security firm employees about the products stored on-site with their applicable hazards and to produce a corresponding alarm response procedure.