Australian Oil & Chemical Spill highlights issues of transportation safety

The Australian state of Queensland declared parts of the Sunshine Coast, Moreton Island and Bribie Island disaster zones after a container ship belonging to the Swire Group leaked fuel during a storm. The oil spill has contaminated about 37 miles of pristine beaches and mangroves, reports say. Queensland’s Deputy Premier Paul Lucas said today the … Read more

Bayer Cropscience explosion update-CSB to hold public hearing

Recall that there was a large accidental explosion at the Bayer Cropscience facility in Institute, W. Virginia, on Aug 28, 2008. Details of this incident were reported by me in a post on this blog, you can refer it here. Now the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board has announced that it will be … Read more

Cost of NOT preventing corrosion in a gas pipeline – $ 4 billion!

On June 3, 2008, there was a large explosion in a natural gas processing station on Varanus island near Western Australia. The investigation report that was released last week, points to poor maintenance as being the leading cause of the accident. It seems that the company that maintained the pipeline and associated infrastructure neglected maintenance … Read more

Use Gas Detectors to improve safety-lessons from an industrial accident

This post shows how easy it can be, to build-in safety into your plant, by using the right kind of gas detector. Continuing our “Case study” series, we show below how a simple gas detector, had it been installed, could have easily prevented a major industrial catastrophe. The video below show the US Chemical Safety … Read more