Temporality of accidents : When do they occur?
Based on the analysis of 25 000 French industrial events that occurred between 1 January 1992 and 31 December 2015, this document identifies trends over months, weeks, days and hours of accidents
Power outages during periods of cold weather
Periods of cold weather are characterised by low temperatures, sometimes combined with snowfall and/or wind. Synonymous with high electricity consumption, they are often the cause of power failures and other critical systems, such as telecommunication networks, can also be affected.[...]
The end of the switched telephone network
In an emergency situation and primarily in the event of a power outage, only switched telephone networks (PSTN) are operational. The traditional French operator’s plan to abandon these networks in 5 years time in favour of VoIP solutions should be[...]
Explosion of a boiler in a steel plant
A gas boiler exploded during a restart test phase in a steel plant at 11:13 p.m. The site's firefighters were able to secure the facility. Although the boiler was severely damaged, production operations were not affected. The boiler had just been[...]
Explosion of a Vacuum Arc Remelting furnace
In a metallurgical plant, 2 explosions occurred at 9:30 p.m. followed by a fire in a melting furnace containing 5 t of titanium. The technician on duty was alerted by deviations in control parameters: fusion was stopped by the safety barriers 20[...]
Flooding of a glass factory
Following heavy rains in late May 2016 in the Ile de France (Paris) region, water was seen upwelling through sewer manhole covers located between the buildings housing the furnaces of a glass factory. The rising water spread through technical ducts[...]
Cooling towers: Legionnaire’s Disease still running rampant!
The group outbreak of Legionnaire's Disease in the Lisbon suburbs in 2014 has provided a sad reminder: the propagation of legionellae within the water circuits of cooling towers is a likely scenario and one capable of causing major health impacts[...]
Fire followed by explosions at a dangerous goods transport company
At about 6:30 a.m. on a Sunday, a fire was detected in a dangerous goods transport (DGT) company classified as a lower-tier SEVESO company. The fire broke out in a parked tanker lorry. With a capacity of 19 t, it[...]
Accident study findings on household uses of gas
Every year in France, many deaths and injuries result from accidents involving household uses of gas. These events, which occur in individual dwellings off the natural gas distribution networks, are caused by a wide variety of devices so common in[...]
Analysis of pressure equipments related accidents
Pressure equipments are everywhere in our daily life: fire extinguishers, LPG tanks, compressors, oxygen bottles are just examples. The knowledge of their potential danger, both in operating or in maintenance phase, can limit the consequences of accidents. This study based[...]
