On the 2nd basement level of a factory in an urban area mixing and packaging aerosols, a stock of boxed supplies stored on pallets ignited. The presence of smoke and heat complicated the emergency response. An ensuing explosion slightly injured[...]
A tank undergoing cleaning exploded after a 15-day production run. Along with a damaged drum dryer, the tank had been collecting washing water with an excess concentration of 2'-azobis (2 methylbutyronitrile) - AIVN (a by-product of hydrazine hydrate). In anticipating[...]
During a regular facility inspection inside a silo, the Head of Operations saw smoke rising from 2 intercellular storage spaces (so-called "ace of spades"); he immediately shut down the installations. Fire-fighters controlled this combustion event, resulting from an accumulation of[...]
At a chemical plant manufacturing phytosanitary products, an explosion occurred on a multi-purpose unit; this blast was followed by the formation of a black, foul-smelling cloud hovering over the city, causing an electricity outage that disturbed rail traffic for several[...]
At an industrial gas packaging site, fire broke out in a room housing 16 bottles of silane. The internal emergency plan was activated and the site evacuated. The blaze could not be immediately controlled and wound up destroying the room[...]
A chlorine leak occurred when degassing a sprayer during production downtime at the end of a campaign on a chemical site. The Cl2 tank in use was isolated by 2 remote-controlled valves placed in series ((20) liquid Cl2 tank outlet[...]
In an industrial catering facility dedicated to fish dishes employing 700 staff, a water pipe carrying an added bio-detergent product with corrosive properties was punctured and its contents spilled onto a 28-mm diameter copper pipe transporting chlorodifluoromethane (R22) under high[...]
In a pharmaceutical plant, during an operation intended to remove dimethylsulfide (an odoriferous compound), a violent explosion audible for several kilometres fractured equipment (rupture disc, manifolds...) on a tank containing a cyclohexane-rich flammable distillate, and blew windows out of a[...]
At 10:15 am during scheduled intervention on the main board at a refinery's vapour production plant, a several-second outage on the 220-V network occurred, in turn upsetting the centralised control station. The safety features on flame detection systems, supplied from[...]
An explosion followed by fire destroyed the oldest of 3 warehouses at a farm cooperative housing some 100 tonnes of phytosanitary products and 26 tonnes of sodium chlorate. About 20 people entered a state of shock. The shockwave shattered window[...]
