Safety and Loss Prevention
Petrochemicals
The incident summaries provide a brief description of the event and highlight key points (including basic causes, critical factors, root causes and lessons learned) in addition to signposting interested readers to the detailed investigation report and selected other pertinent reference materials.
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Flixborough - 01 June 1974
Incident: Temporary reactor bypass line rupture. Location: UK. Keywords: bellows, caprolactam, competence, corrosion, design, explosion, Flixborough, layout, MOC, planning, QA, temporary, UVCE. Author: Peter Marsh.
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Pasadena - 23 October 1989
Incident: Reactor inventory release via settling leg. Location: USA. Keywords: actuator; blockage; deviance; explosion; HDPE; isolation; layout; Pasadena; permit; procedure; training; valve. Author: Peter Marsh.
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Castleford - 21 September 1992
Incident: Nitration plant residue exothermic runaway. Location: UK. Keywords: building, Castleford, CoW, Hickson, jet, layout, MoC, MNT, muster, nitration, procedure, runaway, training. Author: Peter Marsh.
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Ellesmere Port - 01 February 1994
Incident: Ethyl Chloride Recirculation Line Failure. Location: UK. Keywords: access, communication, corrosion, EC, Ellesmere, fire, flammability, inspection, maintenance, pump, response, training. Author: Peter Marsh.
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Hahnville - 27 March 1998
Incident: Nitrogen Asphyxiation During Maintenance. Location: USA. Keywords: asphyxiation; confined; Hahnville; isolation; MoC; nitrogen; oxygen; permit; procedure; purge; Taft; warning. Author: Peter Marsh.
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Geismar - 13 June 2013
Incident: Propylene fractionator reboiler shell rupture. Location: USA. Keywords: bleve, exchanger, explosion, Geismar, hierarchy, MoC, olefin, PHA, PSSR, PSV, valve. Author: Peter Marsh.
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Moerdijk - 03 June 2014
Incident: Reactor overpressure and rupture. Location: Netherlands. Keywords: alarms, catalyst, communication, control, explosion, MoC, Moerdijk, procedure, reactor, runaway, startup. Author: Peter Marsh.
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