Recent incidents in Indian Industry creating turmoil

Yesterday's fire and explosion incident in Yashashvi Rasayan has made me ponder upon the prevention and protection measures taken by the manufacturing plants.

The incident has been said to be in the tank farm area. As per the initial reports, the fire in the tank farm has lead to an explosion of solvent storage tank/ tanks. In multiple images, damaged tanks, hydrogen trolley and multiple other plant units could be seen in the near vicinity of the tank. The other images of the incident are quite disturbing with charred bodies lying on the ground. There is a disturbing video of a charred man asking for help outside the plant that is being circulated in social media. The root cause of the incident still needs to be confirmed by the authorities. 

This incident combined with Vizag Styrene release and Tarapur surfactant factory explosion has put multiple questions in my mind. 

• Do you think that the understanding of Indian industry to process safety has improved? Do you think enough measures are taken in a plant to prevent unsafe acts and unsafe conditions? 

• Do you think that management of your plant or the neighbouring plant is seriously implementing measures and filling gaps identified in audits and PHA studies? 

• Do you think that government authorities are seriously making proactive reviews of the sites? 

• Do you think our laws and regulations related to industries are stringent enough to make the industries realise that they have more to lose in an accident than to gain in the normal operation of the plant? 

In my opinion, some industries have a better understanding of the importance of process safety in their plant and they implement preventive and protective measures as well. But several of them lack resources and knowledge related to process safety and how to prevent unsafe conditions and acts in their plants. They are still limited to hard hat and steel toe shoes safety which is important, but there is so much more to safety.

Many do not understand the importance of a good PHA study and how it can help in preventing and safeguarding against incidents. For example, I have worked with companies representatives who have asked me "why are you taking a scenario of external fire in a tank farm as I have enough fire monitors and hydrant points available in plant to fight such a scenario?" or "Why are you recommending a dump tank for a PSV release as I have high-pressure alarm and interlocks for my vessel?"

Although we have many existing guidelines, laws and regulations. Also, frequent inspections keep on going on in our plants. But it is high time to bend our perspective towards Process Safety along with general safety. It is high time that we understand and focus on topics like chemical reaction and thermal runaway hazards, facility siting, the importance of Management of Change and quality PHAs, risk of Dust Explosion, risk of fire/ explosion due to electrostatic discharges, the importance of QRA (Quantitative Risk Assessment) and LOPA (Layer of Protection Analysis) studies for the major accident hazard scenarios, the importance of Process Safety Management (PSM), etc.

These incidents leave us and our families devastated and in turmoil. We need to learn from these incidents and improve our facilities. At the end of the day, we all should return to our families safe and sound.

Housekeeping and Secondary Dust Explosions

Thanks for such brilliant response to my past blog on Relief Sizing. It really feels satisfying when it gives food for thought to people about their own plants. It is a much wider subject, hence all of us can hold different opinions on what is already there in terms of regulations and what is practically being done at the grass root level. In the end, my objective is simple and that is to make the community aware of some process safety aspects which can help them make their operations safer.

For this blog, I will be discussing the importance of housekeeping to prevent Dust Explosion or should I say Secondary Dust Explosions.

How many companies out there still utilise compressed air for cleaning of equipment surfaces and to blow off the settled dust from surface/ floor/ clothing?

How many of them still dry broom dust settled on the shop floor?

How many of you still don't know that the powder which is settled on equipment surface, shop floor, electrical fitting, etc., is combustible in nature and can result in fire/ explosion hazard in the plant?

How many of your plants have false ceilings and that hidden area is not being reviewed for any powder accumulation?

How many of you still use non-rated vacuum cleaners in plant areas to remove the spilt dust?

Operator Earthing - Are you doing it correctly?

Thank you guys for such an awesome response to my last blog post on Partial Inerting. It was made clear from the responses, that it is rather an unexplored topic in many parts of the world. Keep sharing your thoughts and keep sharing the blog with your colleagues, friends and students.

For today's blog post, I am picking up a basic concept of OPERATOR GROUNDING and what is the correct way to actually do it. There are many industries who provide Safety Shoes (maybe antistatic/ static dissipative) to their employees working on the shop floor, however, a substantial misconception regarding grounding practices exist in the industries that "If I have provided my operator dissipative shoes he has been grounded adequately." Also, there are many who purchase shoes with higher resistance to the ground then what is recommended by the standards.

Selection of Flexible Intermediate Bulk Containers (FIBC) and their relevance

Hey everybody! A big shout out to all the people who have helped me reach more than 1k viewers on the blog. Keep sharing with your friends, colleagues and to all others for whom you feel that this content will be relevant to.

The next concept which I have seen people struggling with is the selection of FIBC.

FIBCs are flexible, rectilinear containers constructed of woven plastic with a suitable liner. The typical FIBC is made of woven polypropylene with a polyolefin liner. Various designs exist for the basic container and grounding arrangements (if any), and larger capacities are also available.

There are four types of FIBCs which are available, i.e. Type A, Type B, Type C and Type D. Each of these have different specifications and different utilization & relevance.

Can Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) from Non-Conductive Bags act as an Ignition Source?

Hope you are enjoying the posts and able to gain some insights from the blog.

Now for this week blog, I am touching on a more sensitive question, which people have asked me in almost all Electrostatic Hazard Seminars. "Can Non-Conductive Bag act as an ignition source?"

A non-conductive bag, being an insulator can act as a source of Brush Discharge which has approximate energy of up to 3-4 mJ associated with it. Depending on the type of flammable atmosphere, brush discharge from the non-conductive bag may/ may not act as an ignition source.

Based on the equivalent energy of brush discharges, it must be assumed that most potentially explosive gas/air mixtures, solvent vapor/air mixtures and hybrid mixtures (vapor/gas and dust with air) can be ignited by brush discharges.