At a demineralisation unit, 1 m³ of 35% hydrochloric acid spilled into a retention basin and onto the concrete slab of nearby tanks. The gas desorbed in forming fog. The transfer pump shut down 1 min later, the siren was[...]
An older lead-lined steel tank (diameter: 8 m, height: 9 m, bottom thickness: 8 mm, shell thickness: 5-7 mm) containing 450 m³ of phosphoric acid burst at a chemical facility. The acid wave destroyed the reinforced concrete retention basin (with[...]
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 a fine chemical plant, a toluene leak in a solvent reception tank (300 litres)connecting a dryer (3 000 litres) caught fire while the facility was being cleaned with toluene. The solvent (whose temperature was close to room temperature) present[...]
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[...]
During the paint fabrication process, a tank containing a mix of minium (red lead) and glycerophthalic resin exploded at 11 pm. The ensuing fire destroyed 2 workshops and both the research and control laboratories; 170 employees were in technical unemployment.[...]
