At around 1:30 p.m., a leak occurred on a rack containing 12 cylinders of hydrogen (50 l at 200 bar each) that was being delivered by a lorry inside the fenced-in storage area of a bulb manufacturing plant. The plant’s safety manager closed access to the area, had the other lorry drivers on the site cut off their ignitions, and made them evacuate. The public firefighters were alerted and the plant’s employees were evacuated as a precautionary measure. The firefighters tested the air with an explosimeter and stopped the leak by closing the gate valve (used to transfer hydrogen from the cylinders to their points of use) located on the outside of the rack. The rack had been delivered by a crane lorry. Each of the top four corners of the rack was fitted with a steel ring that was used to lift the rack off the lorry. The gate valve was opened when one of the four lifting chains used to lift the rack off the lorry accidentally wrapped around it. The firefighters left at around 3:00 p.m. after the plant resumed normal operations.

The operator halted deliveries of this type of rack and had the rack replaced by one with 16 cylinders and fitted with a cover and a central lifting ring.