Burn accidents

Though there do not seem to be any generally available technical reports, there are genuine stories of explosions and burn accidents caused by the inadvertent formation and subsequent decomposition of hydrates of hydrocarbons in railway tank cars in the cold climate of Canada. Incidents occurred due to the practice of washing empty tank carr following their use for transporting liquid hydrocarbons. In a cold winter climate, it is possible to form hydrates with small amounts of hydrocarbon residues, which later decompose when the tank car warms up, e.g., when exposed to sunshine. For example, the clathrate hydrate of isobutene (2-methyl-propene, b.p. -6.9" C) needs only 1.12 bar at 273 K to be stable. Precautions were not taken around such nominally clean and empty tankers, and exposure to sparks or naked flames led to flash fires and explosions. While the main content of the tankers was butane, other hydrocarbons were present. In another kind of industrial accident, a worker was killed by H2S gas liberated from H2S hydrate residue in a heavy water production plant, during a shutdown for maintenance. 

The majority of direct and indirect contact electric shock and burn accidents occur at 230 V on distribution systems or on connected equipment. There are many instances in which high voltage overhead lines are touched, so this is a form of direct contact however, they usually result in predominantly burn injuries rather than electric shock. 

Electricians taking short cuts by unnecessarily carrying out live work is another cause of burn accidents. An accident of this type occurred on a 100 A triple pole switchfuse (see Fig. 2.13) which was part of a low voltage (400 V) switchboard and which was used as an isolator for a furnace control panel. The control panel developed a fault and two electricians were called to repair it. One of the electricians went to the control panel and the other to the... 

The burn accidents invariably result from manual excavation when, for example, an operator using a pneumatic drill penetrates a concealed, buried cable with the tool. A short circuit will occur when the bit comes into contact with one or more of the live conductors and the metallic armouring and/or sheath of SNE cables or the CNE conductor where a PME distribution system is in use. The initial phase/earth or phase/neutral fault usually develops and involves the other phases, causing arcing which may emerge as a flame arc and blast from the hole made by the tool, injuring the operator. 

Concentrations of some dusts in the collector ( 50 g/m ) forming a possible fire or explosion hazard if a spark or flame is admitted by accident possibihty of fabrics burning if readily oxidizable dust is being collected... 

The hazards of water hammer are described in Section 9,1,5 and the hazards of ice formation in Section 9,1,1, This section describes some accidents that have occurred as the result of the sudden vaporization of water, incidents known as boilovers, slopovers, foamovers, frothovers, or puking, Boilover is used if the tank is on fire and hot residues from the burning travel down to the water layer, Slopover is often used if water from fire hoses vaporizes as it enters a burning tank. Sections 9,1.1 and 12.4.5 describe incidents in which vessels burst because water that had... 

On January 4, 1966, at Feyzin refinery in France, a leak from a propane storage sphere ignited. The fire burned around the vessel and led to boiling liquid expanding vapor explosions. The accident caused eighteen deaths and eighty-one injuries. 

A liquefied propane tank truck whose volume is 6000 U.S. gallons (22.7 m ) is involved in a traffic accident, and the tank truck is engulfed by fire from burning gasoline. The tank is 90% filled with propane. Assume that all of the propane will contribute to the fireball. Radiation effects are calculated below blast and fragmentation effects for this problem will be calculated in Sections 9.2 and 9.3, respectively. 

About 2.5 million tons (2.3 million tonnes) of coal arc burned daily in U.S. power plants. This is equivalent to roughly 21,000 railcars in transit, so it is apparent that coorditiatiiig production and cotistimp-tioii is no easy task. Accidents, rail strikes, natural disasters (e.g., floods that take out bridges and rail lines) and severe weather (e.g., deep river freezes that halt barge traffic) can all severely disrupt deliveries for utility customers dependent on a reliable coal supply for base load plants. Nonetheless, to reduce costs U.S. utilities have significantly reduced typical inventory levels over time. Wliereas a coal inventory of ninety days of supply was once typical, inventories now frequently run in the range of thirty to forty-five days. 

When cargo ships and fishing boats are involved in accidents, there are vanous measures that have to be carried out to limit the flow of fuel oil into the water. Accidents in harbors and close to shore are treated with great care. Oil booms would be placed around the t cssel to prevent the spread of oil, and skimmers would he brought to the area to collect the oil released to the environment. In extreme cases the fuel oil cargo may be burned when the oil could not be pumped out or when a stranded vessel could not be refloated. 

With plastics that decompose, there may be hazards such as personal bums or wounds and air contamination. Faulty controllers and/or freeze-off can cause the overheating situation from a burned out heater. Safety devices should be used that alert the plant when problems develop people have to be aware of these possible situations. Recognize that personnel injury in plants due to machinery represents 10% of all accidents (Fig. 8-77). 

C22-0063. Describe the features of radioactivity that make an accident in a nuclear power plant more devastating than an accident in a coal-burning power plant. 

Accident Fire Prev. Info., March, 1974, Washington, USAEC Lithium ignited on contact with nitric acid and the reaction became violent, ejecting burning lithium. 

The PSM Rule requires all PrHAs to address "any previous incident which had a likely potential for catastrophic consequences in the workplace," 29 CFR 1910.119(e)(3)(ii). An incident is an unplanned event that may or may not result in injuries and/or loss. For example, an incident might involve a flammable gas leak that does not ignite. An accident, on the other hand, is an unplanned event that actually leads to personal injury, property damage, environmental damage, and/or business interruption losses, such as the ignition of a flammable gas leak resulting in burns and fire damage. 

Occupational injury Any injury such as a cut, sprain, or burn that results from a work accident or from a single instantaneous exposure in the work environment. 

Basics of Free-Field Blast Waves. The most severe types of energy releases which can occur in toxic chemical and explosives facilities are explosions of high explosive materials. When such materials are initiated by some stimulus, they may burn, deflagrate or detonate. Detonation is by far the most severe of these three chemical reactions, so it is usually assumed to occur in accident situations, unless one can prove otherwise quite conclusively. 

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