Flammable liquids incidents

This chapter describes a number of incidents involving liquefied flammable gases (LFG) that could have occurred only with these materials (or other flashing flammable liquids). 

For the first years of operation there were no flammables in the area. However, the company changed its strategy and started storing Class IC flammable liquids (crude sulfate turpentine) several months before the fire. Specific safety systems were requested by the permitting agencies. These safety requests were accepted by the owners. However, several safety systems were incompletely installed or not installed by the time of the incident. 

TQ values normally vary with the hazardous nature of the materials handled. If a small quantity of material will cause a major process safety incident, like an inhalation hazard such as cyanide, the TQ is set low. If a large amount of material is needed to create a dangerous situation, like a flammable liquid, a higher TQ is set. 

The EPA standard lists 46 flammable materials that are gases at 25°C (77°E) and atmospheric pressure, and 17 Class lA flammable liquids (that have flash points below 22.8°C/73°F and have boiling points below 37.8°C/100°F). This standard requires an evaluation of at least one worst case explosion involving a listed flammable gas, vapor, or liquid and one or more alternative explosions. It may be necessary to evaluate several possible explosions to determine which of them would give the greatest distance to the endpoint of 1.0 psig overpressure, and this scenario would then be the worst case incident. 

By similar considerations, it is best to shut down the reboiler and drain liquid before repressuring the column at shutdowns. This practice is imperative if the column contains hot, flammable liquids and air is likely to enter during repressuring. In one incident (169), violent combustion of liquids upon air ingress into a column at shutdown caused ii jury and column damage. 

Because of the uncertainty of the potential flammability of combustible liquids, they will be referred to as flammable liquids throughout this book. It is highly recommended that they be treated the same way on the incident scene for the purpose of responder and pnblic safety. Flash point will be discussed in detail later in this chapter. It is important, however, to note at this point that the flash point temperature is the most critical factor in determining if a flammable liquid will bum. The most important precantions are to control ignition sources at the incident scene and keep personnel from contacting the liquid without proper protective clothing. 

According to DOT and ERA statistics, flammable liquids are involved in over 52% of all hazardons materials incidents. This should not be surprising since flammable liqnids are nsed as motor fuels for highway vehicles, railroad locomotives, marine vessels, and aircraft. Additionally, many flammable liquids are used to heat homes and businesses. Effective handling of flammable liquids at an incident scene requires that emergency responders have a basic understanding of the physical characteristics of flammable liquids. 

According to regulatory definitions, flammable liquids and combustible liquids are those which can undergo combustion under conditions incident to transportation. A flammable liquid preparation is any liquid mixture or compound readied for some kind of use, possibly medicinal, that remains flammable. A material s tendency to be flammable is characterized using the following factors ... 

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. 

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