Lessons to be learnt from chemical reaction
31 Oct 2011
Lessons to be learnt from chemical reaction 17/10/2011 Two main lessons can be learnt from a chemical firm who have been fined over a major incident at its plant - appropriate staff training is important and procedures need to be in place for when things go wrong.
Lessons to be learnt from chemical reaction
17/10/2011
Two main lessons can be learnt from a chemical firm who have been fined over a major incident at its plant - appropriate staff training is important and procedures need to be in place for when things go wrong.
The company has been fined £25,000 and ordered to pay costs of £15,000 after putting workers at risk and breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
A runaway reaction had occurred at the plant after an employee increased the rate at which he added a solid chemical to a liquid one.
Lack of training led him to believe that when at first he added a little of the chemical and there was no apparent reaction it would be safe to increase the speed at which he combined the two.
This was not the case and the two chemicals started to react rapidly in an uncontrollable manner releasing themselves into the production area.
Luckily there was no one in the production area at the time as the toxic and flammable substance made the area incredibly dangerous to workers.
Automatic alarms sounded, but when an employee tried to gain access to the production hall he was driven back by the fumes and was forced to flee the building.
Results of an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) showed a lack of training, instruction and supervision with regard to the incident.
It also found that the employee involved did not understand the dangers associated with increasing the volume of the chemical into the mixture which could have been avoided had sufficient training been undertaken.
Further to this a lack of control measures to deal with such an incident were in existence meaning were there more people present at the time lives could have been lost.
Risk assessments should be taken out whenever such tasks are due to be performed with chemicals, outlining the hazards and risks presented, information on handling the chemicals and what to do should an incident such as this arise.
David Hair, investigating inspector at HSE, said: "They would have been at serious risk from toxic chemical exposure, or a flash fire or explosion, if the flammable vapours released had ignited. They could easily have suffered permanent injuries or even been killed."
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