A plant was restarting after a shutdown. The pulley of a double-lobe blower on a mist separator vent line (Figure 1) suddenly broke while rotating, explosively expelling fragments. Fortunately, the pulley guard (Figure 2) captured the fragments. If the guard had been...
An explosion on October 13, 2002, propelled large fragments of debris offsite, some landed near crude oil storage tanks. Three people were injured, but fortunately, no fatalities occurred. Steam leaking through manual block valves heated crude Mononitrotoluene (MNT)...
Can a “fail open” valve fail closed?. Clearly the answer is YES or we would not have asked the question! On piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs) or other process safety information (PSI), valves may be indicated as “fail open,” “fail closed,” or “fail in...
Washington, D.C. – May 14, 2020 -The CSB has released a new guidance document entitled, “CSB Best Practice Guidance for Corporate Boards of Directors and Executives in the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry for Major Accident Prevention.” The new seven-page document...
On November 9, 2010, in upstate New York, USA, a contractor was welding new support brackets on a tank for water-based polymer slurry. The area outside the tank had been monitored for flammables and approved for hot work, but the inside of the tank was not tested. An...
