Tips for kitchen safety

I found an article on the above title. Can be of useful.

Gas cylinder leak

I heard an incident from my friend about LPG leak and fire. After the cylinder became empty, a filled cylinder was connected and when the burner was lit, leak was suspected. To ensure that the gas is leaking, they tested it by taking a lit match stick. Immediately, it caught fire at the regulator and they cried loud for help. Hearing the cries, a person outside, assuming robbery attempt, came with a stick. Seeing the fire, he hit the regulator with the stick which dislodged the regulator and gas fire also stopped.

Fire and fatalities during material movement in a lift

In an accident, two persons died while moving a medicine in large quantity through a material handling lift for repacking. It is stated that the material is combustible and the vapors caught fire and a spark caused fire and deaths.
As per the reports from various news papers, it appears that the material is combustible, volatile (vapour release), improperly packed, taken in large quantities, persons are inside a material handling lift, ignition source (spark) is present and trapped persons were unable to escape. 

What can be done to prevent such accidents in our workplace?

LPG leak - lack of preparedness to attend emergency

As per reports (1, 2, 3, 4) appeared in news papers, an LPG tanker with 15 T of LPG, moving on the road had a brush with tree branches leading to crack on roto gauge and LPG release.
Immediately driver and a resident in the area informed it to the fire brigade. The fire brigade and the police after reaching the spot in 15 minutes, started spraying water to dilute gas concentration and informed the supplier who reached after three hours without needed tools/materials.

The driver covered the crack with a cloth and the local fire brigade covered the crack with M-seal and POP after moving the vehicle to a school, away from traffic. Locals were advised by fire brigade not to lit/smoke in the area to avoid fire/explosion. The traffic was stopped ahead and diverted.

Emergency - rumours

I received an e-mail which warned all people to stay indoor for the next 24 hr as radiation from Fukushima reactor explosion can spread across nearby nations. Even some friends also were seen discussing about the same. I do not know how is it possible when the incident is not like what happened in Chernobyl in 1986. A search in the internet reveals that this advise is for people staying within 30 km of the nuclear plant and not for everybody on the globe. The denial at BBC website is available here.

Ammonia explosion

I got this news item through google alerts. Many of us do not believe about explosion due to ammonia but this news item proves that it can happen. Personally, I too do not knew about it until I read about ammonia explosions in "What Went Wrong?" by Trevor Kletz. After a long time, I came across an ammonia explosion.

Nuclear emergency in Japan

The earthquake on 11.03.2011 followed with tsunami and nuclear emergency at Fukushima reminded me of Murphy's law. There was power outage. The pumps for cooling the reactors could not be operated by DG sets. The engineers of the nuclear plant are trying hard with available limited resources. Already there are reports of increase in radiation levels.

What lessons we can learn from this incident in a chemical plant?