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September 10, 2001 British Factory Evacuates Employees, 23 Injured
About 170 workers were evacuated from a British factory when a large quantity of gas was released into the atmosphere. The incident began when 300 liters of sodium hypochlorite was
accidentally released into a tank containing 6,000 liters of hydrochloric acid.
Twenty-three of the 170 workers at the factory, which makes steel pen nibs and other stationary items, were taken to the hospital. The twenty-three were suffering the effects of breathing in fumes but none of them were thought to be seriously injured, the BBC reported.
Source: CSB CIRC
September 7, 2001 Chinese Pipeline Blast Leads to Mass Evacuation
A welder ignited a fire while repairing a pipeline used to unload crude oil from ships at a pier in Maomining, a port in Guangdong province, according to Weng Guoqiang, a city official. The pipeline exploded, setting off a second and much large blast involving all 12 of the pier's pipelines. The fireball from the second explosion was more than 150 feet high, he said. Twenty thousand people were evacuated and the nearby oil refinery, the largest in China, was forced to close. The refinery operator, Sinopec Corporation, said it has rerouted oil tankers to another port. State television
showed emergency crews in Maoming spraying white foam onto flames leaping from the damaged pipes. Evacuated residents were allowed to return within a few hours. Source:
CSB CIRC
September 6, 2001 Motiva to Shutdown Crude Unit for Maintenance
Motiva will bring down its 175,000 barrel per day (bpd) crude unit at its Delaware City, Delaware, refinery for a 20-day planned maintenance starting Sept 20, a company source said Thursday.
The maintenance should bring the refinery back up to full capacity, the source added. The refinery operated for roughly five weeks at reduced rates after a chemical fire on July 18. Motiva then reduced runs at the refinery by one-third after the fire and a sulfuric acid spill that had killed one man and left eight
injured, and severely contaminated a nearby waterway.
September 4, 2001 Kansas Man Killed in Tank Explosion
A Kansas man was killed Tuesday night when the oil well he was checking exploded, authorities said. The man was checking the level of a large tank Tuesday at about 9:30 p.m. in the darkness. Because he was having trouble seeing the level he lit a match, which sparked the explosion.
Source: CSB CIRC
August 31, 2001 Uranium Found Under Chicago Homes
Cleanup crews discovered uranium leaking in a pipe under two West Chicago houses, marking the first discovery of that radioactive substance contamination in the neighborhood. Two houses had to be raised on jacks; this is the first time homes had to be moved in the nearly decade-long cleanup of the shuttered Kerr-McGee chemical factory.
"The homes are closely adjacent to the old factory site, and the uranium was transmitted through an extremely old clay pipe," said Rich Allen, manager of the office of environmental safety in the state's Department of Nuclear Safety. "(The pipe) is so old it's not on the easement maps, and nobody from the 20th century seems to remember it."
August 30, 2001 Wichita Freight Train Derails, leads to Evacuation
A freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed and caught fire after reportedly
hitting a backhoe parked on the tracks. Three engines and 10 extra-long flat cars of the train went off the tracks. More than 120 residents of the rural area south of Wichita were evacuated as thick black smoke rose from the blaze.
Two sheriff's deputies were hospitalized. The cargo was said to have included carbon dioxide, compressed nitrogen, sodium hydroxide, white asbestos and some perfume products.
August 27, 2001 Canadian Smelters Contaminated with Thallium
Teck-Cominco Ltd. is trying to determine how 65 workers at its Trail, British Columbia, lead smelter were contaminated with thallium, a toxic metal linked to nerve damage, the company said on Monday. The company said the workers were doing maintenance work this month on the furnace area of the currently idled smelting facility when they began complaining of flu-like symptoms. Tests later found traces of thallium, a chemical by-product of smelting, in their
urine.
August 27, 2001 Employee Burned During Plant Startup
The BP Amoco Polymers plant In Augusta, GA is again revamping safety procedures after an operator suffered second-degree burns in a mishap in the Amodel unit - the same unit where an explosion killed three workers earlier this year. Workers were flushing steam through the system as part of the start-up process at the time.
The employee was standing near a drain pipe. Exposed steam running into the drain struck something, possibly a piece of salt, which caused water or steam to bounce out and hit him,
a company spokesperson said. The company's internal investigation concluded the worker, who had been at the plant just three months, didn't recognize the hazard that led to his injuries. Work instructions will be rewritten, and engineers will be consulted to look into redesigning the
drain, said the company. The plant produces polymers used to make plastics for automotive, aerospace and medical parts. Source:
CSB CIRC
August 26, 2001 Canadian LNG Storage Facility Explodes
A liquid natural gas storage facility exploded after gas from two malfunctioning wellheads ignited. There were no reports of injuries, and emergency services said that early fears about the toxicity of the cloud of smoke sent up by the fire were unfounded. Officials said the fire was located in an underground storage facility and was being allowed to burn itself out as it was too hot for fire-fighters to get close enough to tackle.
Initially, about 70 firefighters and 10 fire trucks were assembled in a field near the plant.
Company officials said the risks to capping the well, which contains 500,000 barrels of gas, are too great.
On September 1, it was reported that one of the two wellhead fires had been extinguished.
August 24, 2001 Shell Disputes Contamination Charges
Anglo-Dutch oil and chemical group Royal Dutch/Shell on Friday disputed a report in Brazil that showed a high rate of contamination in residents near its former pesticide factory. Shell admitted in February that the factory had contaminated the groundwater and soil but not residents in
Paulinia, 75 miles (120 km) northwest of Sao Paulo, where it produced Aldrin, Dieldrin and Endrin pesticides until 1990. A health report released Thursday by the Paulinia City Hall showed that 156 of the 181 residents examined have some degree of contamination from metals or pesticides and 28 of the 50 children in the test group have chronic contamination.
August 23, 2001 Honolulu Ammonia Leak Causes Evacuation
The leak occurred at the Fresh Island Fish Co. after workers shut down a unit for maintenance work and then restarted it. The
Honolulu Advertiser reported that a "powerful surge of ammonia burst through a valve about 20 feet from the ground".
Source: CSB CIRC
August 23, 2001 Nigerian Platform Overtaken, Workers Held Hostage
100 workers were held hostage for four days off the coast of Nigeria aboard a rig that drills for Shell, four miles offshore from
Warri, southern Nigeria. The Trident rig is understood to belong to Transocean Sedco
Forex, a company based in Houston, Texas, which is a drilling operator for a range of multinationals. A Shell spokeswoman said the youths involved in the Trident hostage-taking came from the Bilabiri community in south-east Bayelsa state.
August 22, 2001 Louisiana Ammonia Leak Forces Evacuation, Blamed on Vandals
About 75 people were evacuated for three days after an ammonia leak blamed on vandals.
Ammonia began escaping from two points of a Koch Pipeline Co. line between Louisiana Highway 8 and Little River in Grant Parish. Someone had drilled into a valve, probably to get ammonia to make
methamphetamine. A few people were treated for nausea and a state police hazardous materials expert for heat stress.
August 20, 2001 Worker Critically Injured Unloading Railcar
The worker was critically burned by phosphorus as he was unloading the material from a railroad car at the Rhodia plant in Nashville. The worker was reported to have been wearing protective clothing at the time of the incident. An EMT and two paramedics who took him to Vanderbilt were treated and released from the hospital when they showed signs of chemical exposure.
Source: CSB CIRC
August 19 Ukrainian Coal Mine Blast Kills at least 47
At least 47 miners were killed in a methane gas explosion in a coal mine in eastern Ukraine and more than 40 injured after the blast ripped through a shaft 1,300m underground. Rescuers trying to reach the dead and injured were blocked by fire. Officials said 259 men were underground when a mixture of methane gas and coal dust blew
up.
August 17, 2001 Rural Oil Pipeline Fails, Contaminates Field
An Oklahoman BP Amoco crude oil pipeline ruptured after being struck by a machine cleaning roadside ditches, sending oil
30 feet into the air and damaging nearby cotton crops with up to 150,000
gallons spilled. The Jackson County Commissioner's Office constructed dikes to help contain the spilled oil. The pipeline, which originates in Sundown, Texas, and continues to Cushing, was repaired within 18 hours and put back in service.
August 17, 2001 Chemical Theft Blamed for Ammonia Leak
A section of Mississippi Highway 26 was closed for about two hours after what appeared to be an attempt to steal anhydrous ammonia from the Circle T fertilizer plant. Investigators found a 15
liter propane tank with a small hose that had ruptured connected to a 3,000
liter portable ammonia tank that had a gauge reading of zero.
August 16, 2001 Many Sickened by Leak from Swimming Pool
Forty-eight people were taken to hospital after inhaling chlorine gas from a chemical leak in the swimming pool. It is believed that hydrochloric acid and sodium hypochloride
were accidentally pumped into the wrong tank during a routine delivery of cleansing chemicals.
Officials are preparing a report which it is believed could result in criminal charges focusing on pool staff, management and the lorry driver who delivered the chemicals.
August 16, 2001 Indian Explosives Plant
Explosion Kills at least 28
An explosion at an explosives plant near Madras killed at least 28 people with many injuries and missing persons. Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalitha, quoted by United News of India, said explosives at the state-owned Tamilnadu Industrial Explosives Ltd could have been ignited accidentally. Television channel Star News said police suspected several safety regulation violations at the factory though the exact cause of the explosion was not yet known.
The plant manufactures nitroglycerine-based industrial explosives and detonating fuses for mining and quarrying applications and was set up in the early 1980s by the Tamil Nadu state
government.
Sources and Disclaimer:
AcuSafe's Incident News Summary is primarily compiled from Reuters and AP news wires, and from information shared on the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board Chemical Incident Reports Center. An effort has been made to summarize stories only from reputable sources, but neither AcuSafe nor AcuTech Consulting can guarantee the accuracy of the story, nor do they necessarily reflect the views of AcuTech, AcuSafe, and its staff. We make no effort to independently corroborate the accuracy of the incident news stories.
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