The Misuse of Hoses Can Quickly Create Problems

Hoses are essential within chemical plants. They are often necessary to purge vessels, to wash vessels, to load and unload trucks, rail cars, barges, and ships. Hoses help to compensate for unavailable equipment, to prepare for maintenance, to safely vent systems, and 

All plants have various utility fluids such as well water, compressed air, low-pressure steam, and nitrogen, and anyone who has opened a valve on a utility service expects the utility fluid to flow from the utility header and out the hose. However, if a utility hose is connected to a higher pressure system and there aren t any check valves, undesirable chemicals can back into the utility system and exit in unexpected places. 

Some of the Many Unpublished Errors Created with Hoses 

According to the ambiguous instructions written in the log for the operator, he should have pressured up the ammonia condenser to compressed air system pressure. Next, ho should block off the air supply and discharge ammonia fumes into the atmosphere. The operator pressurized the ammonia-laden condenser to full air system pressure, but unfortunately did not block it off. Therefore at the beginning of the day when the arriving maintenance mechanics and operators put a high demand on the air system, the condenser acted as a surge tank. As the system pressure dropped, undesirable ammonia fumes traveled to the sandblaster s hood. 

Another undocumented story concerns a dangerous quantity of hydrazine (a very toxic vapor, corrosive to the skin and spontaneously igniting flammable liquid) backing into a power plant s drinking water supply from a utility well water hose connected to the boiler water treating system. This reportedly resulted in the hospitalization of a number of power plant workers. 

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