Yet Another Hot Work Accident in Colorado-CSB chief expresses regret
Washington, DC, July 9, 2010 — Dr. Rafael Moure-Eraso, chairperson and CEO of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) said today he was saddened by news of the death of a Colorado welder yesterday while performing what is called “hot work” on a storage tank containing flammables at an environmental remediation company in Englewood, Colorado.
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Hot work is defined as welding, cutting, grinding, or other spark-producing activities that can ignite flammable substances. To date in 2010, the CSB has learned of 15 serious hot work-related fires and explosions that caused six reported fatalities and numerous injuries.
Dr. Moure said, “I am saddened by this accident and disturbed that such fatalities continue to occur. The CSB is vitally concerned about hot work accidents and this was expressed in our important safety bulletin and safety video, both issued within the past few months.”
According to information gathered by the CSB from the fire department and the company, a worker was standing on a ladder, welding on the side of a tank partially filled with a mixture of water and flammable hydrocarbons. Sparks ignited flammable vapor and the worker was thrown off the ladder, suffering fatal injuries.
The company stated that although it has a hot work permit system and had provided safety training to the victim, there was no monitoring for a flammable atmosphere before or during the welding. ( What a joke-how can anybody issue a permit when they haven’t measured the flammable gas concentration in the area-do they expect a piece of paper will actually prevent an accident?!). While current OSHA standards prohibit hot work in an explosive atmosphere, OSHA does not explicitly require the use of combustible gas detectors.
There have been more than 60 fatalities since 1990 due to explosions and fires from hot work activities on tanks. In seven of the 11 accidents discussed in the bulletin, no gas testing was performed prior to or during the hot work activities. In the remaining cases, monitoring was conducted improperly.
Dr. Moure said, “There is no secret to preventing these accidents. Companies should require effective monitoring of the atmosphere before and during all welding or other spark-producing activities near tanks that may contain flammable liquids or gases. Monitoring should be frequent or continuous and performed at multiple locations to assure that no flammable vapor is present which could be ignited. Monitoring the atmosphere and following the other six key lessons in our bulletin can help avoid these tragedies.”
Will CSB investigate the BP Transocean Deepwater Horizon accident?
For excellent training courses on Safety Instrumented Systems, Hazardous Areas and Gas Monitors, please click here.
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June 9, 2010- The US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) which is an important agency in the government that investigates accidents in the chemicals, oil & gas and similar industries, is being urged to investigate the BP/ Transocean oil rig (Deepwater Horizon) fire and sinking. Chairman John Bresland of the CSB issued the following release given below
Statement from CSB Chairman John Bresland Regarding
House Committee Request to Investigate BP Deepwater Horizon
I have received the letter from Chairmen Waxman and Stupak of the of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, requesting that the CSB investigate the BP Deepwater Horizon blowout. It is my desire that the CSB do everything it can to facilitate the request and to undertake the investigation and determine what factors led to the explosion and failure of the blowout prevention system.
The CSB, a small agency, is currently engaged in numerous investigations consuming all of our investigation staff. However, I will be consulting immediately with the rest of the board and with key staff to determine how we may put together a high-performing investigation team.
The CSB thoroughly investigated the BP Texas City refinery explosion of 2005 and issued a lengthy report and hour-long CSB Safety Video following our investigation, and as the letter from the committee chairmen states, we would be in a unique position to address numerous questions about BP’s safety culture and practices, and to answer the questions outlined in the House committee letter today. The CSB investigation report and safety video may be viewed at www.CSB.gov.
In addition, at the CSB’s urgent recommendation in 2005, BP convened a special panel under the leadership of former Secretary of State James Baker to evaluate the safety culture at BP’s North American refineries. That report was published in January 2007.
We will be making key decisions on the matter in the next few days and we thank the Committee on Energy and Commerce for its interest in and support of CSB investigation activities
Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig Explosion in the Gulf of Mexico Oil spill gets worse
You can now download the Safety Instrumented Systems e-learning course demo from here. Covers Safety Integrity Level (SIL), IEC 61508 and related topics in detail.
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April 29, 2010- The oil rig explosion and fire that occured in the Gulf of Mexico last week is now thought to be leaking out five times the oil than originally estimated. The new estimate is 42,000 gallons per day of crude. This can cause large scale damage to the marine environment in the area. The US Coast Guard has now stepped in to contain the slick and now plans are afoot to burn off the oil spill.
The original Deepwater Horizon accident can be found in this blog post here.
This seems to have a bad impact on the share price of BP, which saw continued weakness in the markets on the news. Upto now the shares have dropped more than 11%, resulting in a loss of market cap of about $20 billion. This shows how important Safety, health and the environment is to a companies financial health too. This issue is often not understood by some company managements, who see no value in spending on good and safe engineering practices and maintenance.
The video below (posted on YouTube) shows the problem with great visuals.
Oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico-12 missing and several injured
For a great guide to Safety Integrity Level, IEC 61511 and other topics, download the e-learning course on Safety Instrumented Systems here.
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April 21, 2010 -Several people were missing and others reported to be injured, after an explosion on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The oil rig, named Deepwater Horizon, is about 40 miles from the Louisiana coast is in operation for BP, through an owner -operator/ contractor company Transocean.
Several Coast Guard choppers and vessels are engaged in search and rescue operations in the area. The blast was reported to have occured on Tuesday night at about 10 pm. The cause remains unclear.
The environmental impact of the event is as yet not known. The missing persons apparently boarded a life boat, which is now untraceable. There is a video of the event on You Tube posted below.
Tesoro Refinery Fire causes fatalities
Update: View the latest update on this incident here.
Anacortes,WA April 1, 2010- Yet another explosion and fire at a Tesoro refinery, this time in Washington State. The company is already under investigation by the Chemical Safety Board for a previous fire in one of its refineries in Salt Lake City.
An explosion and fire at about 12:30 hours was reported at the Anacortes oil refinery of Tesoro that caused three fatalities and four injuries. The injured are being treated at a Seattle hospital.Residents in the areas near the refinery reported the fire and explosion to local TV stations, who then broke the story. Reports say that the refinery was undergoing routine maintenance of a Naptha unit when the explosion and fire occured.
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For excellent training courses on Safety Instrumented Systems, Gas Monitors
Hazardous Area Instrumentation and Area Classification, please click here.
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Here is a video of the event
The Tesoro Anacortes refinery fire is the deadliest accident involving production at a U.S. refinery since the BP Texas City explosion on March 23, 2005 in which 15 workers were killed and 180 others injured.
In the past many accidents have taken place in many refinery and petrochemical complexes during maintenance work, that has been reported not only in this blog but at many other news sources. This emphasizes that additional care has to be taken by facilities that are undergoing maintenance activities.
