At 2:15 p.m., a fire started on one of four air pressure boosters used at a manufactures catalysts and absorbents plant. A technician gave the alert upon spotting smoke. A low air pressure alarm also sounded. Two technicians, who were also members of the emergency response team, used fire extinguishers to bring the fire under control despite the fact that the housing of the booster made this difficult. At around 2:30 p.m., the operator implemented the internal emergency plan due to the serious risk of the fire rekindling. The site’s discharges were contained and the power supplies were cut. Firefighters cooled down the booster at around 2:40 p.m. The incident was declared over at 3:30 p.m. The plant was monitored.

The firewater was sent to the platform’s wastewater treatment plant and to the stormwater network via a containment pond.

The operator analysed the causes of the fire with the booster’s supplier. In the accident scenario put forward, the booster mechanically jammed, causing the belts to slip and ignite. Oil in the booster housing caused the fire to spread. The supplier said that the belts in the booster were not uninflammable. This was due to a stock outage and lack of knowledge about this specific property. The oil was due to a leak on the breather of the booster awaiting repair, as another booster at the plant was already under maintenance.

The operator subsequently implemented the following corrective actions:

• booster restart controlled by safety instrumented systems (such as temperature sensors, slip detector and belt break sensors) installed to prevent the risk of fire;
• the tank is cleaned and booster housing is checked for leaks (booster shut down if leaks are too big);
• replaced the belts by non-flammable belts;
• looked into air requirements and the possibility of adding a backup booster in case repairs are necessary;
• checking and disassembly of the booster to understand why it jammed.