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November 2, 2003, Texas Eastern Transmission
Bath County, KY. Texas Eastern Transmission. A
natural-gas pipeline exploded about 1.5km south of a Duke Energy pumping
station. No one was injured and no property damage was reported. A fire
burned for about an hour before fire-fighters extinguished it. The same
line exploded in October 1985 in Hillsboro, about 8km north of the site of
this blast. Two people were injured in that explosion.
November 7, 2003, Formic Acid Incident
Groton, CT. Pfizer. An employee was injured
while handling formic acid in a storeroom. The man was taken by company
ambulance to hospital. Other colleagues working in the area were evaluated
and released by the Pfizer medical staff.
November 7, 2003, Archer Daniels Midland Explosion & Fire
Decatur, IL. An explosion blew out a wall in
Archer Daniels Midland’s West plant. The Decatur Fire Department reported
no injuries and said the blast was “caused by static electricity, and it
was strong enough to blow out all the flames with it”. The fire
department said most of the fire was out when they arrived. ADM reported
$20,000 in damage.
November 7, 2003, Jeevan Oxychem Oleum Leak
Vadodara, Nandesari, India. Jeevan Oxychem
Products Private Limited. An oleum [fuming sulphuric acid] leak
occurred, injuring at least seven persons. According to reports, the
Nandesari GIDC fire brigade took 30 minutes to respond to the leak, then
calling emergency support from surrounding industries such as IPCL, GSFC
and the VMC, who arrived an hour later. Senior disaster management team
officials reached the site 15 minutes after that. While authorities were
still trying to find the source of the leak, the local panchayat [town
council] helped 300+ residents to evacuate as many had started
complaining of dizziness, respiratory irritation and coughing. Eventually,
local contractors directed the authorities to a tank in the Jeevan
Chemicals factory from which the leak had occurred. According to the
Offsite Industrial Emergency Control Room secretary: “The extremely low
light conditions, initial confusion and interference from nearby residents
prevented early detection of the source.”
November 12, 2003, Explosion at China Refinery Kills 3 Workers
Cangzhou city, Hebei province. An explosion in
“an evaporator” at an oil refinery killed three workers and injured three
others. A fire caused by the blast was put out immediately and those
injured were hospitalised. According to a source with the local public
security department, the accident was possibly caused by “wrong
operation”.
November 12, 2003, Motiva Crude Unit Damage and Leak
Delaware City, DE. Motiva shut some
units and reduced rates on other units at its 175,000 bpd refinery after
high winds and low tides left the refinery without enough cooling water.
It was later reported that lack of cooling had damaged the crude unit.
Westerly winds gusting to 100 km/h pushed water out of a Motiva channel
back into the Delaware River, leaving cooling water supplies 3-4m below
normal. That forced some pumps to shut down and production to be cut back,
damaging the crude unit. The problems became worse when the crude unit
developed a leak and was shut down. Officials were unable to say when
normal refining would resume.
November 15, 2003, Explosion Injures 8
Pajaritos petrochemical complex, state of
Veracruz. Petroleos Mexicanos. An explosion injured eight workers, two
seriously. The workers were “cleaning a pressure valve when a spark
ignited the explosion”. Pemex fire-fighters put out the fire. The plant,
which processes ethylene and other gases, continued to operate after the
incident.
November 22, 2003, Murphy Oil Refinery Fire
Meraux, LA. Murphy Oil. The refinery suffered a small fire in a new
hydrocracker unit that was being tested. Operations in the rest of the
refinery were not interrupted. No one was injured. The cause of the fire
is under investigation, but a plant spokesman said there may have been a
problem with pipes connected to the unit. He said the fire was fed
predominantly by hydrogen, which was being used “to provide pressure to
the unit”. A company spokeswoman said repairs are expected to take a week.
The refinery’s gasoline unit was shut down for about 24 hours, probably as
a precautionary measure as a result of the fire in the hydrocracker. The
refinery was closed for three months after a major fire on June 10 and
only returned to near-capacity on October 13. A witness three blocks from
the refinery said he heard a noise “like a big blower” and saw that a
flare normally present atop the plant had increased in size. He said he
saw what looked like a yellow powder coming out of the flare. Later, he
said, he smelled something like rotten eggs.
November 22, 2003, Workers Killed in Chemical Explosion
Luchu Hsiang, Taoyuan County, Taiwan. Three executives and a staff member
at a factory manufacturing polyurethane foam products were killed in an
explosion while “experimenting on a new chemical dose”. Another staff
member was critically injured. The explosion levelled the plant and all
chemical materials stored at the plant were destroyed. Fire-fighters said
that no other employees were working when the explosion took place. The
Council of Labour Affairs (CLA) ordered the plant shut down, saying the
company would not be allowed to resume production until it improves safety
measures and passes new inspections.
November 23, 2003 Crude Oil Tank Explosion
About 32km south of Midland, TX. Perenco LLC. A battery of crude oil tanks
exploded on a lease near the intersection of Highway 349 and County Road
300. According to the field superintendent for Perenco, an electrical
spark caused the fire: “We seemed to have a leak on the ‘lack unit’.” He
said that a lack unit measures how much oil moves through the tanks and
checks oil content. He said that when the pumper checking the lease turned
off the lack unit, an electrical spark set the leaking oil on fire. The
workers quickly left the lease to turn off the 18 wells that sent oil to
the tank battery. They were about 400m away from the battery when it
exploded 45 minutes later. He said about 640 barrels of oil, three stock
tanks, three water tanks and associated equipment were destroyed.
December 10, 2003 Accident Injures 52
Bremen, Germany. Brenntag GmbH. 52 persons were injured after 500 litres
of caustic bleach solution was inadvertently mixed with 2,000 litres of
hydrochloric acid, causing a chlorine gas release. Fifteen workers were
hospitalised. A shelter-in-place order, lasting three hours, was given for
the surrounding community. According to the fire brigade, light winds
prevented the gas cloud from dissipating rapidly.
December 18, 2003 Refinery Fire Kills Worker
Tula, Mexico, about 80 kilometres north of Mexico City. Pemex. A fire at a
refinery killed one worker and injured four others. Petroleos Mexicanos
said the blaze at the started in a heater in a unit that produces diesel.
It took fire-fighters 20 minutes to control the blaze. Tula is Pemex’s
second-most-important refinery, with a capacity to refine 320,000 barrels
of crude oil a day and it is the main supplier for the Mexico City area. A
series of accidents at the same plant two years ago killed two workers,
prompting temporary closure of one unit.
December 19, 2003 Two Killed in Pharmaceutical Explosion
Minhang District, Shanghai, China. Shanghai Zixing Pharmaceutical Co. An
explosion at a pharmaceutical plant killed two persons and injured seven
others. More than 10 fire engines, as well as some 100 police officers,
were sent to the site. A police spokeswoman said that the blast occurred
on the ground floor of a three-story building in the company complex. The
floor was a warehouse to store alcohol, which is used to produce tonic
products in the plant. The building was totally destroyed. The two dead
included a company accountant who died on the spot. She worked at the
office on the third floor. The other person died on way to hospital. A
physician said that two of the injured had sustained brain injuries, but
their lives were not in danger; the other five had minor bruises.
December 20, 2003 Flange Failure Causes Tank Fire
Houston, TX. Marcus Oil and Chemical. An explosion occurred in a tank at
an oil plant, causing a fire which burned for more than an hour. A
spokesman for the Houston Fire Department said: “A flange on the south
side of the tank broke or cracked and let the hot oil out. When in turn
hit the atmosphere at 700 degrees, it burst into flames.” The fire
department said the blaze was never a considerable danger. No one was ever
evacuated. There was only one minor injury – a twisted ankle – in the
incident. The Houston Fire Department said this was at least the third
time they’ve been called to Marcus Oil and Chemical in the last five or
six years.
December 29, 2003 Mechanical Failure Results in Fire
Benicia, CA. Valero. A fire broke out following a mechanical failure in a
cold, low-pressure separator near the centre of the refinery and was
extinguished after about 1 hour and 20 minutes. The fire forced the
company to shut down a jet hydrotreater and adjacent diesel hydrotreater.
Valero officials initially believed that jet fuel was burning, but later
reports said that diesel ignited. No injuries were reported. A spokeswoman
said repairs were currently underway at the refinery, however: “We are
still assessing needed repairs and therefore do not yet have an accurate
repair timeline.”
January 2, 2004 Chemical Accident Results in Chlorine Release
Appleton, WI. Wisconsin Fiber Resources. An accidental mixing of chemicals
caused a release of chlorine gas. According to the Appleton Fire
Department, the building was safely evacuated when vats began giving off
the gas. No one suffered ill effects. Fire-fighters remained on the scene
throughout the day to assist employees in neutralising the vats with a
sodium bicarbonate solution.
January 3, 2004 Chemical Factory Destroyed in Fire
St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, Canada. Nutrite. Fifteen people were forced from
their homes after a lawn-chemical factory caught fire. No one was hurt in
the blaze, but the factory was destroyed. A provincial police spokeswoman
said officials from Quebec’s environment ministry were on the scene and
determined that the smoke generated by the blaze was not toxic: “The toxic
substances were removed by an employee. We evacuated the residences as a
defensive measure.” Officials also ordered about 50 residents to
shelter-in-place.
January 11,
2004, Chemical Fire at Huntsman Port Neches Plant Injures Workers
A January
11 chemical fire at Huntsman’s Port Neches facility burned two plant
workers and caused minor injuries to six others. Four workers, including
the two second-degree burn victims, were treated and released at local
hospitals. The fire occurred during an attempt to prepare a process pipe
for maintenance within a unit that produces methyl tert-butylether (MTBE),
a fuel additive. The design of the pipe included a long, shallow dip where
residual feedstock chemicals had accumulated, unknown to plant personnel.
In preparation for the planned maintenance on January 11, workers directed
steam through the pipe, inadvertently causing the residual chemicals
inside to overheat and decompose. Accumulating pressure ruptured the pipe,
releasing a flammable vapor cloud that then ignited, investigators
believe. The pipe involved in the accident was seldom used at the
10-year-old facility. After its last use in September, the pipe was purged
with nitrogen gas, but owing to the pipe’s design not all liquid chemicals
were removed.
January 13, 2004,
Workers Injured in Explosion
Hasaki, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. Daikin Industries Ltd. At least two
workers were injured in an explosion at an ethylene tetrafluoride plant
which destroyed a 30m distillation column. The plant produces fluoro-polymers,
mainly used for high heat resistance cable insulation. Investigators said
the column exploded when liquid material apparently caught fire. Daikin
Industries officials said that the explosion would cause no damage to the
local environment
Sources and Disclaimer:
AcuSafe's Incident News Summary is primarily compiled from Reuters and AP
news wires, and from information shared on the U.S. Chemical Safety and
Hazard Investigation Board Chemical Incident Reports Center. Sources for
incidents also include Hazards Intelligence – an international journal of
hazardous incidents- available for subscription at
http://www.saunalahti.fi/ility/.
An effort has
been made to summarize stories only from reputable sources, but neither AcuSafe nor AcuTech Consulting can guarantee the accuracy of the story,
nor do they necessarily reflect the views of AcuTech, AcuSafe, and its
staff. We make no effort to independently corroborate the accuracy of the
incident news stories.
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AcuTech Consulting,
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