Chemical industry recordable incidents

The following is a brief selective listing of major worldwide fire and explosion incidents within the hydrocarbon and chemical industries during the last 25 years (1970 - 1994), both onshore and offshore. Numerous smaller incidents have been recorded that are not listed here but may be studied in other references. Where the number of fatalities has been reported in public accounts they are listed next to the financial loss. Financial losses are direct property damage losses and do not include business interruption, legal, or environmental impacts. 

Working in the chemical industry is safer than most individuals realize. We shall provide a perspective of the risks of working within this industry by comparing that risk with actual statistical dangers encountered with other well-understood occupations, commonplace activities, and life-styles. Later chapters will focus on costly errors in the chemical industry along with practices and procedures to reduce the occurrence and severity of such incidents. Viewed in isolation, case histories alone could easily lead to the inaccurate picture that the chemical industry is dangerous. In fact, the chemical industry has an impressive safety record that is considerably better than most occupations. The news media does not often speak of the safety of the chemical plants because these passive truths lack news-selling sizzle. 

The chemical industry generally handles business so well that it is difficult to find large numbers of recent incidents for examples. Many of the featured case histories in this book occurred over 20 years ago however, the lessons that can be learned will be appropriate into the twenty-first century. Tanks can fail from the effects of overpressure and underpressure in 2010 just as well as they failed in the 1980s. Incompatible chemicals are incompatible in any decade and humans can be forgetful at any time. Before we review a single case history, it is time to boast about the safety record of the chemical industry. 

Chemical manufacture, particularly in the fine and speciality chemical industries, involves the processing of reactive chemicals and toxic or flammable liquids, vapours, gases and powders. Whilst the safety record of the chemical industry is generally good, fires, explosions and incidents involving hazardous chemical reactions do happen. 

Doughty, T.E., Neal, T.E., and Floyd 11, H.L., Predicting Incident Energy to Better Manage the Electric Arc Hazard on 600 V Power Distribution Systems, Record of Conference Papers IEEE IAS 45th Annual Petroleum and Chemical Industry Conference, September 28—30, 1998. 

Modify the accident reporting requirements in RMP Info to define and record reactive incidents. Consider adding the term "reactive incident" to the four existing "release events" in EPA s current 5-year accident reporting requirements (Gas Release, Liquid Spill/ Evaporation, Fire, and Explosion). Structure this information collection to allow EPA and its stakeholders to identify and focus resources on industry sectors that experienced the incidents chemicals and processes involved and impact on the public, the workforce, and the environment. 

Triphenylphosphate is a colorless, odorless, crystalline solid (mp, 49°C bp, 245°C). It is moderately toxic. A similar, but much more toxic, compound is tri-o-cresyl-phosphate (TOCP), an aryl phosphate ester with a notorious record of poisonings.3 Before its toxicity was fully recognized, TOCP was a common contaminant of commercial tricresylphosphate. Tricresylphos-phate is an industrial chemical with numerous applications and consists of a mixture of phosphate esters in which the hydrocarbon moieties are meta and para cresyl substituents. It has been used as a lubricant, gasoline additive, flame retardant, solvent for nitrocellulose, plasticizer, and even a cooling fluid for machine guns. Although modem commercial tricresylphosphate contains less than 1% TOCP, contaminant levels of up to 20% in earlier products have resulted in severe poisoning incidents. 

Two studies have reported malignant lymphoma mortality for the chemical manufacturing Industry (Table IV). Lynge ( ), in a study of cancer Incidence in a cohort of 4,459 persons who had been Involved in phenoxy herbicide manufacture in Denmark, found 7 cases of malignant lymphoma among males, whereas 5.4 would have been expected (RR-1.30 95% Cl 0.52-2.69). None of the 7 cases were recorded as having participated in the manufacture or packaging of phenoxy herbicides. 

MDS Nordions Theratronics division deals with more conventional workplace safety issues in its industrial operations. Here there are hazards related to operating power tools, handling heavy materials or hazardous chemicals, and maintaining acceptable noise levels. Through the 1990s, Theratronics has steadily improved its workplace safety record, achieving its lowest-ever rate of safety-related incidents. 

The overall safety record of the process industries has been quite good, despite several highly publicized plant incidents. In fact, the accident and loss statistics for the chemicals and allied products industries are among the best of the manufacturing sectors (Crowl and Louvar, 2002). But it is not possible to eliminate risk entirely, and unfortunate accidents occasionally occur (Kletz, 1995 Mannan and Lees, 2005 Crowl and Louvar, 2002 Banerjee, 2003). 

The UK safety record of commercially prepared foods is excellent yet very occasionally isolated outbreaks of botulism associated with commercial products do occur. If we are to maintain a low incidence of botulism in this country it is essential that industry maintains careful control of processes, that the Government continues to accept the need for use of chemical preservatives (such as nitrite) in certain food products, and that the consumer refrains from home preservation of non-acid foods, other than by freezing. It is worthy of consideration whether, if nitrite were to be prohibited as a food preservative, some consumers might start home curing of pork in order to provide supplies of bacon and ham for domestic consumption. Such a situation could lead to a significant increase in risks for the consumer, and provide botulism statistics more akin to those of our EEC neighbours. 

Worldwide, industrial accidents that involve an extremely large number of casualties resulting from chemical exposures are rare. Between 1975 and 1999, 25 incidents involving more than 25 fatalities and 100 injured were recorded. 

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