Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Incident Background
The company operated a location that had several
chemicals stored in tanks at various locations in the plant
Water solutions of sodium hydrosulfide and ferrous sulfate
were among the chemicals received by truck and unloaded
into storage tanks
Plant procedure was to off load chemicals from the tanker
with the assistance of Shift Supervisor
Shift Supervisor was expecting a delivery of Ferrous
Sulfate
Incident Background
A tank truck containing Sodium Hydrosulfide arrived at the
plant
The Shift Supervisor escorted the driver to the Ferrous
Sulfate tank and authorized him to off load without
inspecting the truckers paperwork and left the unloading
area
The driver connected the piping to the tank and began
offloading Sodium Hydrosulfide through a connection
marked Ferrous Sulfate
Incident Scene
Unloading arrangement
Incident Scene
Unloading connection
Plant Layout
The truck of Sodium
Hydrosulfide was
supposed to be unloaded
to these tanks
What happened ?
The unloading of Sodium Hydrosulfide in the Ferrous
Sulfate tank lead to a reaction which produced Hydrogen
Sulfide (H2S), a colorless gas which is highly toxic at
800ppm
An employee noticed an unusual odor and lost
consciousness
The operator regained consciousness after 10 minutes to
notify other employees to raise an emergency
The truck driver was found unconscious and later
pronounced dead at the scene due to exposure to H2S gas
Plant Layout
The truck driver
was found
unconscious at
this location and
died from
Hydrogen Sulfide
exposure
An operator
passed out at this
location, but
fortunately
recovered in time
to get help
Lessons Learnt
A Standard Operating Procedure for unloading chemicals
in storage tanks was developed and a unloading check
sheet was also maintained in every shift
Company designated two authorized personnel to assist
the driver in unloading of bulk shipments
Company also placed barrier gates at the entrances to
the bulk chemical unloading areas
An emergency remote alarm button was installed at each
material transfer location
Best Practice
Surprise inspection to be conducted by Safety and Environment
officers during unloading of chemicals from tankers in all shifts
Reaction Chemistry needs to be known to the Shift Supervisor
responsible for unloading the chemicals
THANK YOU