Failure Flammability

A product may also be defective because it was sold with iaadequate wamiags. Burch vs Amsterdam Corporatioa (11) is an early example of a failure-to-wam case. A plaintiff was badly burned ia an explosion and flash fire that occurred while he was applyiag a floor tile adhesive sold by the defendant. The label on the can of mastic adhesive warned that the product was extremely flammable and should not be used near a fire or flame. 

For many years the usual procedure in plant design was to identify the hazards, by one of the systematic techniques described later or by waiting until an accident occurred, and then add on protec tive equipment to control future accidents or protect people from their consequences. This protective equipment is often complex and expensive and requires regular testing and maintenance. It often interferes with the smooth operation of the plant and is sometimes bypassed. Gradually the industry came to resize that, whenever possible, one should design user-friendly plants which can withstand human error and equipment failure without serious effects on safety (and output and emciency). When we handle flammable, explosive, toxic, or corrosive materials we can tolerate only very low failure rates, of people and equipment—rates which it may be impossible or impracticable to achieve consistently for long periods of time. 

Loss of sealing fluid for vessel agitator seal. Possible seal failure and emission of flammable or toxic vapors. 

Overfill drum due Calibrate weighing devices and maintain equip-to operator error ment in good working order or valve failure,. metering pumps can lead to opera- tor exposure, slip- fill operation with weighing device pery floors, spread of flammable liquids. CCPS G-3 CCPS G-15 CCPS G-22 CCPS G-29... 

For open filters, or when opening closed filters, solvent is flammable and may be above flash point with air present. For open filters, vent system failure may increase solvent vapor concentration, resulting in a fire or explosion. 

Boiling liquid expanding vapour explosion follows failure of a pressurized eontainer of flaimnable liquid, e.g. LPG, or a sealed vessel eontaining volatile flammable liquids, under fire eonditions. Ignition results in a fireball and missiles. 

In cases where bellows failure would release flammable, toxic or corrosive liquids through the vent, a short nipple and elbow should be used to direct leakage to an open funnel which is piped to grade and ties into a catch basin or manhole with a sealed inlet connection. 

Many leaks have been discussed under other headings, including leaks that occurred during maintenance (Chapter 1), as the result of human error (Chapter 3), or as the result of overfilling storage tanks (Section 5.1). Other leaks have occurred as the result of pipe or vessel failures (Chapter 9), while leaks of liquefied flammable gas are discussed in Chapter 8 and leaks from pumps and relief valves in Chapter 10. 

Davenport [1] has listed more than 60 major leaks of flammable materials, most of which resulted in serious fires or unconfined vapor cloud explosions. Table 9-1, derived from his data, classifies the leak by point of origin and shows that pipe failures accounted for half the failures— more than half if we exclude transport containers. It is therefore important to know why pipe failures occur. Following, a number of typical failures (or near failures) are discussed. These and other failures, summarized in References 2 and 3, show that by far the biggest single cause of pipe failures has been the failure of construction teams to follow instructions or to do well what was left to their discretion. The most effective way of reducing pipe failures is to ... 

The main hazard posed by a BLEVE of a container filled with a flammable liquid, and which fails from engulfment in a fire, is its fireball and resulting radiation. Consequently, Lewis (1985) suggested that a BLEVE be defined as a rapid failure of a container of flammable material under pressure during fire engulfment. Failure is followed by a fireball or major fire which produces a powerful radiant-heat flux. 

In the present context, the term BLEVE is used for any sudden loss of containment of a liquid above its normal boiling point at the moment of its failure. It can be accompanied by vessel fragmentation and, if a flammable liquid is involved, fireball, flash fire, or vapor cloud explosion. The vapor cloud explosion and flash fire may arise if container failure is not due to fire impingement. The calculation of effects from these kinds of vapor cloud explosions is treated in Sections 4.3.3 and 5.2. 

Available refrigerants for various levels or conditions of operation may be toxic, flammable, irritating on exposure, hydroscopic, and expensive. These characteristics cannot be ignored, as large systems contain large quantities of refrigerant, and a leak or other failure can release a potentially serious condition into a building or process area. 

Single-Phase Operation. If single-phase power only is available, it is advisable to consider the use of single-phase to three-phase converters and three-phase motors. This avoids the use of large single-phase capacitor start motors, which are relatively expensive and contain a starting switch that could be a source of trouble due to failure or to the presence of flammable gas in the vicinity of the well,... 

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