Fire in a corporate hospital, Kolkata: 93 deaths, several injured

Fire in a corporate hospital, Kolkata: 93 deaths, several injured

There was a fire incident in the midnight/early morning hours in a 190-bed corporate hospital at Kolkata (West Bengal state) on 09.12.2011 (Friday). As per reports, as of now, 93 persons died, including 3 hospital staff and several others were injured. It is reported that all the deaths were due to suffocation/asphyxiation from poisonous gases like carbon monoxide liberated during the fire. One of the deaths reported is jumping from one of the top floors. The fire started from the area close to the pharmacy located in the basement. The basement originally meant to be a car parking area was modified to house a radiotherapy unit and a pharmacy which is part of central stores. But the area is also used without any authorization to store inflammable materials like, chemicals, spirti cans, wooden furniture, heaps of empty packing boxes, cotton, bandage, oxygen cylinders, etc.

The firefighting equipment in the basement like fire extinguishers, smoke alarms and sprinklers are not functional in the basement at the time of the fire.

Though the fire started at 0130 hr (in another report, it is 0330 hr), fire service was informed only after 40 minutes after attempts by hospital staff to extinguish the fire failed and the fire went out of control.

(A news report for this delay states that when a minor fire occurred a few months earlier, an alert security employee of the hospital informed fire services. But, before they arrived, hospital staff extinguished the fire. However, insisting for inquiry by fire services, as reported, angered the hospital authorities and the security employee was reprimanded and suspended for two weeks. )

The hospital staff informed that as per protocol, person identifying the fire has to inform night administrator who will alert all wings of the hospital and the same was done during this fire incident.

During the initial period of the fire, hospital staff asked the enquiring inpatients to close the doors and sleep. The smoke, carbon monoxide (CO) and other gases liberated during the fire spread to other floors of seven-floor hospital caused suffocation and slow death.  CO, a flammable, odorless and tasteless gas is fatal at 3200 ppm after few minutes’ exposure. Carboxyhemoglobin (HbCO) formed by combination of CO with hemoglobin in the blood reduces oxygen carrying capacity and affects the exposed persons with serious consequences. Apart from CO, hot gases inhalation also can create respiratory problems. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_monoxide_poisoning

Exposed patients, unable to open, banged toughened glass window panes to breath fresh air and find means of escape. It is not clear why they did not open doors of the rooms in which they were staying.

Locals in the nearby areas saw the smoke and had burning lungs. These with kin of inpatients tried to enter the hospital to provide help but were stopped by hospital staff. Traffic on the roads led to late arrival of fire service vehicles. When fire service reached, they found the locked gates and getting hydraulic ladder/lift to cross these closed gates took some more time. They found difficulty in opening the toughened glass panes of the windows. Rescue operations were started in full swing only four hours after the incidents when commando teams with masks and hydraulic lift arrived. Chaos during VIP visits hampered some rescue operations.

 At the time of the incident, the staff strength was 130 including 70 nurses and 20 doctors. It is reported that many of these ran for shelter instead of taking part in rescue operations. However, two nurses tried to rescue as many as possible and in the process died due to asphyxiation and heat.

The fire department in their earlier routine inspection objected storage of combustible materials in the basement and hospital authorities promised to clear within three months by November. Though several questioned fire department for not ensuring implementation of their recommendations, it is virtually impossible for any agency when sufficient man power is not allocated. It is easy to say that work and manpower shortage are different and should not be linked. But, the ground reality is that without resources, ineffectiveness creeps in and finally leads to system collapse.

 It is reported after the incident that persons from other agencies will be drawn to conduct regular inspection of public institutions like schools, hotels, hospitals, etc . But, this will affect the work in the department when people are taken for the proposed inspections. Unless otherwise dedicated staff is available, the incidents will continue to occur.

The six directors of the hospital were charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder and with causing death due to negligence.

What can be done?

Following are some of the measures that will help in preventing/mitigating such incidents.

1.       A pyramid type safety and fire administration should be established in every town/city.

2.       There should be an in-charge for safety and fire for every residential street containing about 10,000 dwelling units or business street containing establishments wherein the total persons employed in various business operations is about 500. These incharges should inspect the areas under their control atleast once in a week for compliance with safety regulations and stop activities in case of violations by issuing a letter with copy marked to their superior and also to local incharges of essential services required to for any dwelling/business like water, power, etc. If the activity continues inspite of notice even after a week, then water, power and other essential services should be stopped immediately by concerned authorities upon receipt of intimation from the safety incharge of the area.

3.       There should be a zonal officer for every 100 area incharges. Zonal officer should monitor activities of area incharges, review their reports, conduct meetings with them in small groups and inspect the areas as required. However, he should visit the areas atleast once in a year and send his report to his superiors.

4.       If there are more zonal officers, then suitably designated and empowered higher level officials should be appointed to monitor these zonal officers and have defined functions as above.

5.       It should be made mandatory to appoint safety and fire officials of required number in every public institution including multistory buildings of all sorts, hospitals, schools, hotels, administrative buildings, bus/rail/air terminals, warehouses, etc. If there are multiple business houses like shopping complexes, then the owner of the building who rented/leased should be held responsible to appoint these officials. These officials should spend atleast half of their working hours to inspect the areas for unsafe conditions and unsafe acts, checking for availability and functioning of specified number of fire detectors/extinguishers/ fire water, and send daily reports to the top man of the institution who should review it on the following day in his meetings with in-charges of various sections, safety and security and ensure necessary remedial measures. The safety officials of individual establishments apart from inspection should also provide training, prepare emergency plan and conduct mock drills every month.

6.       A compiled report of these inspections and other safety activities along with actions taken should be sent to the concerned direct area-incharge of the government who should review and take necessary action. Area incharge in turn should compile all these reports in his area along with his inspection reports and send a monthly report to zonal officer to whom he is reporting.

7.       All violations found by area incharges, comments/remarks of zonal officers and their superiors should be displayed in the town website for public viewing. The content should be specific to the residence/office/establishment. The website can be designed to enable easier navigation.

8.       The safety incharge of the town, call him as town/city safety director or some other designation should be responsible to coordinate with officials of safety, fire, health, transport, administration, etc; prepare an emergency plan for all types of events and ensure conduct of mock drills in all areas/zones, ensure investigation of all incidents and compliance with recommendations, etc. Town/city safety director should prepare an annual report of all safety activities, incidents, etc and publish the report in the town/city website that also contains inspection reports of various officials, details of essential and emergency services, emergency plan, layout of the town extending upto individual house and establishment, list of incidents and details of investigations, recommendations, actions taken, etc.

9.       Each of the emergency services of the town should have sufficient number trained personnel; tools like hammers that can be used even at a distance, flood lights, thermal imaging cameras, fire extinguishers, etc; vehicles for moving fire water, fire extinguishers, ladders, hydraulic lifts, generators, communication system, personal protective equipment, etc; ambulances with equipped with necessary equipment and paramedical staff; etc

10.   There should be dedicated training centers to train all essential service officials and local communities.

11.   Auditing of safety systems in every town/city by reputed agencies, display of audit findings along with action taken report in the website of the town. 

Some links on the incident:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=IN&v=3w15rPdyvSE 24x7: News report

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGy2rW6hr04&feature=related TIMES NOW: Eye witness account

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqkdLPip_cA&feature=related AP: News report

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdZElyg9C_M&feature=related newsX: Safety Questions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6ytgbRr-Ck&feature=related NDTV: Sequence of events

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_amri-fire-nurses-funeral-held-in-kerala-with-full-state-of-honours_1624889

Today (18.12.2011), Chief of Fire Service Department for Government of Andhra Pradesh during his address to a gathering of State Super Specialty Hospitals cautioned and told about

• display of ‘Fire Unsafe Building' board in front of hospitals by Fire Department, for not taking fire safety measures,
• prohibition of generators, transformers, canteens, etc in cellars of high rise hospitals,
• preparation of emergency plan with roll clarity and conduct of monthly mock drills,
• posting a Fire Safety Officer to look after fire prevention arrangements and conduct mock drills once a month.
• a one-day workshop by Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) for fire safety officers.

Fire incident in a chemical factory

In a chemical factory that makes drug intermediates, during chemical reaction, temperature increased uncontrollably leading to release of toxic gases. Two persons who tried to control the temperature and two more got injured in the incident.
It is reported that such incidents are common in small scale chemical factories, where safety standards and procedures are not followed. Contract labour with low wages are recruited who do not know how to operate the plant and even personal protective equipment are not provided. Though, nobody wants to damage their own property, the fact is that incidents do occur regularly and this indicates lack of proper training to the workers engaged on the job.

Factories engaged in any activity should have,

1. approvals from concerned authorities
2. selection of employees with requisite qualification and skills
3. training program
4. hazard identification and rectification procedures
5. safe operating procedures
6. dos and donts
7. testing and calibration of gauges, monitors, equipment
8. fire detection and control measures
9. emergency procedures
10. personal protective equipment for persons engaged on the work, etc

BLEVE Training Video - Safety Engineering Network (SAFTENG)

A video on BLEVE (boiling liquid expanding vapour explosion) is available at the link below.
BLEVE Training Video Part 1 - EXCELLENT Info - Safety Engineering Network (SAFTENG)
BLEVE Training Video Part 2 - EXCELLENT info - Safety Engineering Network (SAFTENG)

http://www.safteng.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1038&Itemid=178 (Part 1)
http://www.safteng.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1037%3Ableve-tests-results-1-excellent-info-&catid=52%3Aemergency-response&Itemid=178 (Part 2)
LINK

The video explains about the phenomena of BLEVE, the fire ball radii, the safe distance for emergency responders. We will understand that the safe distance for emergency responders is FOUR times the fireball radius with minimum distance at 90 m. For a 400 lit capacity tank, the fireball radius can be 18 m. We also learn that as the capacity of the flammable storage tank increases by a factor of 10, the fire ball radius doubles. The evacuation distances can be taken as 20 times the fireball radius.

However, these distances are not exact as there are instances of explosion fragments travelling more than 20 times fireball radius. During the incident at New Mexico in 1984, a fragment weighing about 20 T travelled 1200 m.

The water required to cool the exposed hot surfaces 10 lpm/sq.m. It may be noted that inspite of all efforts, if there is whistle/jet engine sound from valves, it is indication of over pressurization inside and all emergency responders should stop their activities and move to safe distances.

Some people assume that BLEVE is possible only with flammable substances. But, as the video explains, BLEVE is possible with any substance that leads to vaporization and pressure rise during external heating/impact and the container rupture leads to BLEVE. Fireball is the result if the substance inside is flammable.

Note: Literature gives following equations:

Fireball radius, R (meters) = 29 M^1/3  where M is mass of flammable in the fireball in tonnes
Fireball duration, t (seconds) = 4.5 M^1/3

Most likely distance for 3^rd degree burns = 80 M^0.42 meters

Maximum distance for 3^rd degree burns = 130 M^0.42 meters

Most likely distance for 2^nd degree burns = 150 M^0.42 meters

Maximum distance for 2^nd degree burns = 240 M^0.42 meters

The heat radiation intensity from the fireball can cause damage to human beings and property. From the literature, it can be seen that 12.5 kw/sq.m heat intensity can be fatal, 8.5 kw/sq.m can cause 1^st degree burns whereas solar radiation gives 0.6 kw/sq.m

10 FACTS ABOUT DRINKING & DRIVING

I thought beer is better than wine with respect to safety but as per the article at the following LINK, fatalities are more with beer consumption than liquor/wine.
10 FACTS ABOUT DRINKING & DRIVING

LINK

Use of TCE - increase in risk of developing Parkinson's disease

A study of 99 pairs of twins with and without Parkinson's disease shows that those exposed to trichloroehylene (TCE) are prone to the risk of developing Parkinson's disease six times more than the other. Study shows exposure to perchloroethylene and carbon tetrachloride also increase the risk of developing the Parkinson's disease. No such evidence was found exposure to toluene, xylene and n-hexane. The data taken is less and requires more studies.
TCE is used as a degreasing agent though it is banned in food and pharma industries long time ago. TCE also results in chopped skin and tremors. Where its use is unavoidable, exposure to persons should be minimized by containment, ventilation, use of personal protective equipment (PPE). Excessive exposure may affect central nervous system, numbness, reduced heartbeat, unconsciousness and eventually death.
Heating of TCE can form phosgene that cause pulmonary edema.

Health effects of TCE: http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/chemicals/chem_profiles/trichloroethylene/effects_trichloro.html

Video link: Chemical Accident Response

Please see the following video link on chemical accident response.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AfGEtVzRz8

Deaths of job aspirants during run test

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Youth-dies-during-police-recruitment/articleshow/10835495.cms
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-01-01/allahabad/28148565_1_police-recruitment-drive-youth-awadesh-kumar-vijeta
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/wire-news/youth-dies-during-police-constable-recruitment-test_603133.html
http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/youth-dies-during-police-recruitment/748524.html
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/wire-news/youth-dies-during-police-recruitmenthingoli_620934.html
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/youth-dies-during-police-recruitment-test-in/562428/

The above are some of the several news reports about the death of job aspirants while taking part in the physical endurance test (marathon/running). Though many of these unfortunate are weak and not maintaining good health, out of personal compulsions to get job to feed their families, they took part in the test and died due to heart attack, physical exertion, strain, etc. It is reported that in one state, the authorities changed the test timings from day time to morning 0500 hr so as to complete the test by 0830 hr.
The team of doctors available at the test centre can do little in case of persons already having medical problems suffer from exertion, chest pain, etc during the run test.
The purpose of the test can't be questioned as it is expected that only physically fit persons can withstand the tough requirements of police job. To avoid such deaths, all job aspirants should undergo true medical examination and are certified for the run. It requires both self assessment and medical examination as if we do not tell the doctor about our health problems, a realistic assessment can't be done unless a thorough medical checkup is done which costs a lot.
Apart from the above, today there is a news report (see the link below), wherein a person died after workout in the gym. It is reported that the person might have died because of chemical reaction of the tablet he took as pain killer for backache after the gym workout.
http://expressbuzz.com/cities/hyderabad/techie-dies-after-workout/336064.html

All above incidents point to straining oneself for different reasons and one should participate in test runs or have workout in gym or in such similar activities only after getting medical fitness examination and based on the advise of the physician.

BLEVE

In a report (http://www.homernews.com/stories/111611/news_fdef.shtml#.TsiKjT38Kxw), it is mentioned that a fire started in a residential garage eventually led to BLEVE (boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion) and fireball involving a fuel oil tank kept inside the garage. The fireball sucked the oxygen and led to containment of fire. The fire was noticed by a neighbor who cautioned the resident of the house to escape.

Due to this, the tank failed with main tank shooting of 150 feet through a wall into the field, while the tank bottom blew through a steel door. The blown tank flew between fire fighters and nobody suffered even any minor injury.

The wind pushed the flames towards the house from garage and some front portion got burnt.

It is reported that the fire fighters heard venting sound like a jet engine and shortly afterwards, the blast took place.

The panicked owner could not tell the fire fighters about the fuel tank inside, though she told about other flammables inside. Fire fighters were unable to see the tank because of flames and heat.

There are no state fire codes to prohibit storage of fuel tanks in residential properties, though such codes exist for commercial and multi-dwelling units.

The Chief of Fire Service is not sure of proper working of vent. It is said that the fuel oil tanks are not designed to hold pressure. It appears that the fuel oil tank is having oil only to some level as per the visible line showing where it was empty.

The Chief advised to keep the oil to the full so that the heat can be absorbed and that vapor build up will be less inside the tank thus preventing pressure rise and explosion. He also feels that the tanks should be kept in open area with ventilation instead of keeping them inside.

From this incident, we can draw following lessons:

1. Flammable storage tanks should be kept outside with proper ventilation and fencing.
2. It should have proper vent relief.
3. It should have properly designed water sprinkler system.
4. It should be fenced to prevent others coming closer to it.
5. The whistle/jet engine sound from a tank exposed to fire is an indication of blast / explosion / BLEVE in a short time and all people including emergency responders should vacate the area to a safe distance.
6. No other flammable/combustible materials should be stored in the area.
7. The safe distance depends upon the maximum capacity of the storage tanks exposed to fire, the distance up to which blast fragments can travel, the distance up to which thermal radiation from a resulting fire ball can cause first degree burns, the distance up to which the over pressure can cause damage to the glass panes.
8. The name plate containing the details of the contents, capacity, design pressure, safe distance in case of fire along with emergency contact numbers should be displayed at a place easily visible and accessible, away from the storage area.
9. Periodical mock drills should be conducted to take prompt action in a real emergency.

Rail fracture - alert villager saves 1200 lives

An alert villager sleeping in a house near the railway track heard loud sound and found 35 mm crack on the rail during the inspection. A train passed over the track few minutes earlier and found another train coming on the same from the light focus in the night. He could alert and stop the train by waving red cloth. It is reported that such cracks are possible due to temperature variations and do occur during the time of the year (winter?).

The brother of the alert villager also alerted the authorities about similar fracture just 72 m away from the place of this incident.

The news paper report can be found here.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Villager-with-a-keen-eye-prevents-train-crash/articleshow/10798150.cms

If this is the case, entire track should be checked for its integrity without waste of time. If the cracks are common as reported, then whether the cracks are appearing only in this section of rail track or all over the country should be found and quality checks of the rails and review of rail specifications should be done immediately. A decision also needs to be taken to replace the tracks at regular intervals, if the cracks do appear after certain length of service.

The alert villager needs appreciation and be recognized in public forum for his service. 

Reducing noise on the roads

I commute everyday 30 km to reach my workplace and back to residence. I am forced to use horn many times while driving because of other drivers / pedestrians / pushcarts crossing the lane / parking the vehicles encroaching the road, taking shortcuts to cross the road instead of using road islands, sudden change in the direction, slowing the vehicle suddenly, talking on the mobile while driving across the road, coming in wrong direction, and so on. This will happen in either direction of travel. This horn sound is an irritation and disturbance to me apart from increasing stress levels.
Last few weeks, I observed that by using flashlight (dipper) to caution those coming in opposite direction and crossing the road, atleast I can avoid use of horn and thus the irritation. Though, I have to use horn to caution those driving in front of me. If the driver is not alert with his erroneous way of driving, I have to change my lane after watching the vehicular movement behind through rear view mirror.
I feel from my experience that the use of flashlight helps in reducing noise on levels on the road and this this facility should be made compulsory for all vehicles by concerned authorities.

Acid leak injuries

Two persons were trying to arrest leak of acid drops from the pipe. In the process, acid drops fell in the eyes and face of one person who was seriously injured in the incident and the other person suffered minor injuries.
It is reported that the police are investigating the case under Section 338 and 285 registered against the company.

For arresting acid leak and similar jobs, one should carryout of job hazard analysis; isolate acid supply; clean the pipe with water or other suitable medium; obtain safety work permit; wear personal protective equipment like, postmortem hand gloves, chemical goggles, face shield, apron and shoes; provide proper access; do the work under supervision. It is not clear whether the above safety measures are followed or not during the work.

The concerned Section of Indian Penal Code is as below.

Indian Penal Code 1860:
338. Causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others.-- Whoever causes grievous hurt to any person by doing any act so rashly or negligently as to endanger human life, or the personal safety of others, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both. Of wrongful restraint and wrongful confinement

Electrocution in chicken shop

As per the news in Deccan Chronicle on 08.11.2011, a chicken shop owner died of electrocution while trying to retrieve dressed chicken from a chicken dressing machine. This may be due to poor wiring, improper or no earthing, lack of ELCB for the machine, no rubber mat in front of the machine, not using proper PPE.
The incident reminds that safety is required everywhere, not restricted to factories alone.

Dust explosions kill workers

Rules lag as factory dust explosions kill workers | ajc.com

The above link is about US Chemical Safety Board investigations on dust explosions and their recommendations. As I posted earlier on the same subject, I am surprised to know that even iron dust catches fire. Many times we concentrate on the dust that we see in the shop floor. But, airborne dust settled at roof level or on the surface above false ceiling or in the elevated surfaces adjacent to the building from which dust is generated require more attention because persons in these areas are unaware or complacent as they are not the dust generators. Any disturbance due to wind or occasional work in the elevated surfaces or sparks generated from electrical fittings at roof level can be a source of dust explosion. It is said that the dust explosions after the primary explosion are more severe. The dust explosion is identified with a roaring and thunder sound and therefore all shop floor persons should be aware of these symptoms and should run away for safety.

Dust explosions are also possible with grain powder and therefore requires communication of dust explosion hazards to these groups also. Enclosures for dust generating equipment, earthing, flameproof electrical fittings, regular cleaning of equipment and ducts that may contain dust, wet mopping, avoiding synthetic dress and static charge dissipation stations are some of the measures that help in preventing dust explosions.

Assess a person's attitude the way he uses water

In our childhood, we were told about a story which concludes that the person using more water is spend thrift and thus faces problem every time. The story is briefly as below.

There were two women in a neighbourhood. One woman borrow some money from the other but fails to return after sometime and replies that she never borrowed. The lender complains to the village head. He calls both women and asks them to stamp with their feet, the mud with some water in front of his house. After sometime, he asks both of them to wash their feet and come inside. The lender washes her feet thoroughly with little quantity of water whereas the borrower uses lot of water and walks inside with some mud left on her feet and makes the floor dirty. The village head rules that the woman actually borrowed money from the other woman, she does not have any control over her expenditure and to avoid repayment she lied to the other woman. He asks her to pay the money borrowed with penal interest.

It appears true as I observed my own water use pattern. When use water judiciously, I also spend money wisely and at times when I use water without concern, my attitude towards spending money also in those lines.
This type of understanding may be true for human behaviour in all respects including safety. However, it requires some study by framing suitable questionnaire and also talking to people who are involved in accidents, rash driving, less respect for safety, not concerned to follow safety procedures, so on.
It's only my thought and I will come out with results, if the assumption is supported with some evidence.

Style statement?

Last few months, I am observing on the road where some bike riders, mostly young age boys, drive with a brush in the mouth. I do not know where from they start and where they want to go. It takes hardly two minutes to brush and wash. Add to this some riders will be talking on the cell phone, that is held between the head and the shoulder. I do not know how such parallel processing of driving, brushing and talking is being done by them.
I feel these people want to show their machoism by such acts ( a style statement) and may be there are some who fall for display of such acts. But, these acts can lead to other road users getting involved in the accidents as these stylish bike riders may not be able to control their vehicle properly and be safe on the road. May be the road traffic police should include driving with tooth brush also as  punishable offence.

What is safe speed on the road?

Last few days, I felt myself lucky many times on the road while going to my workplace. All the times, I feel I saved my self from some injury due to my low driving speed. There are pedestrians crossing the road all of a sudden, persons asking for lift by coming to half of the road, 2-/3-/4-wheelers suddenly coming to the middle of the road from left side, persons moving on the road while conversing on the mobile, pushcarts taking their own time to move, and so on.
Many times I felt like shouting, but what is the use other than increasing my stress and spoiling my day.
I found during these observations that the safe speed (not average speed) on the road that I can control my self from hitting others on the road is 30 kmph, not more than that. With this speed, even if someone crosses my line suddenly or the vehicle in front stops suddenly, still I can apply brakes and avoid any accident even if the other fellow on the road wants to take a hit from me.

Person suffers burns during digging

A construction labourer suffered burn injuries while working in a trench to repair a septic tank piping. The person using a power tool to remove the damaged pipe hit an LPG line in the trench and the sparks led to fire engulfing the person. The injured with difficulty came out of the trench and rolled over the grass to extinguish flames. The person who engaged the injured was penalised for various lapses.

From the description about the incident, the lapses that come to notice are,

1. Whether any permission taken for digging where the gas lines are present. It is a widely followed safety practice to identify presence of utility lines like electrical/gas/water in the area proposed for digging and take precautions to ensure safety of the persons and property. If it is in a factory area, concerned engineer will give clearance and in case of public area, town planning engineer will give such clearance.
2. From the photograph in the weblink, service line identification marks are not visible in the area.
3. Absence of measures for preventing trench cave-in.
4. Lack of proper means of access/egress from the trench like a ladder at 30 m distance intervals.
5. Whether only one person was engaged for such work and if not what happened to other workers.
6. Absence of supervision.

Most of accidents reported are leak/fire/explosion due to puncturing of gas lines during digging.

Off-Site Emergency Response Plans: A Preparedness Tool - Fire Engineering

The Bhopal accident in 1984 led to promulgation of an Act in 1986 to identify hazardous substances, notify the inventories and prepare for emergencies by planning, notification and reporting. It is stated that for chlorine, if the quantity is above 100 pounds, one has to comply with this Act and there are about 350 chemicals in the list.
Off-Site Emergency Response Plans: A Preparedness Tool - Fire Engineering

LINK

Robospiders to monitor chemical accidents

German scientists developed robospiders to monitor chemical activities at the accident site to help what is going on after an accident, check the toxicity levels, caution the engineers to save lives and minimize property damage. It is stated that the thin robospiders when become thick come to life and perform their job. I am unable to understand the mechanism of its working, but the concept is new to me. This appears to be better than remote cameras and sensors as these work from fixed areas whereas robospiders that crawl can detect the condition at the desired place. Details of communication between the robospider and the control room and effectiveness of communication and safety in hazardous environment are not available in the article.
http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/245698/20111109/robospider-created-monitor-chemical-accidents.htm

About safety leadership - Pull the String

The link below is about safety leadership, the required qualities of a safety professional.
Pull the String

LINK

Another acid related incident

Few days ago, I posted an article about use of acid thinking it as water that caused acid burns. Yesterday, another incident of similar nature was reported in news papers wherein acid was applied to a pregnant lady assuming it as antiseptic in an hospital. It is reported that the baby boy delivered later died though there are conflicting reports about the time of death.
Hospital authorities suspect that
In the same news paper report, it is stated that earlier in other hospitals, i) a nurse used acid for swabbing instead of spirit before administering an injection and ii) a patient was given acid mistakenly instead of water.

It is observed that sometimes, incidents of similar nature like trapping of kids in the open bore wells, attack by jilted lovers on the girls, acid burns, etc are reported one after another in a short time. I don't know the reason for such pattern, whether such incidents occur regularly, but are reported during a period or incidents occur only during certain period
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata-/Acid-used-for-delivery-at-state-hospital-baby-dies/articleshow/10600194.cms

Flirting With Disaster - some notes

http://www.flirtingwithdisaster.net/

http://flirtingwdisaster.wordpress.com/

FLIRTING WITH DISASTER

Why accidents are rarely accidental?

Marc Gerstein with Michael Ellsberg

www.flirtingwithdisaster.net

The book is about case studies, root causes and lessons to be drawn. Following is an extract of the book useful in implementing safety at workplace.

1. Organizations do not learn routinely and systematically from past errors and disasters – in fact, they rarely ever do.
2. Deliberate decision of not to try to learn from accidents is an anti-learning mechanism. This is because of blame and punishment/penalty one gets after identification of mistakes outweigh the benefits of understanding what should be done within the organization to avoid such mistakes.
3. There is strong and successful resistance within many organizations to studying or recording past actions leading to catastrophe-because doing so would reveal errors, lies, or even crimes.
4. Many accidents are not accidents at all. They were imagined and accurately predicted. But, the alarms were ignored by those who had the power to disregard them. It is hard to grasp the scale of suffering such mistakes can create.
5. Some saw the warning signals, but they were not voiced in such a way, or to the relevant people to galvanize them into action. Such phenomenon is called ‘bystander behavior’.
6. Organizational bystanders are individuals who fail to take action even when important threats or opportunities arise. They often have crucial information or a valuable point of view that would improve an organization’s decision-making, but for a variety of psychological and institutional reasons, they do not intervene.
7. Observers are not likely to act if “better-qualified” authorities or experts are present nearby.
8. Bystander behavior is more likely to occur in organizations with strong hierarchies and rigid group boundaries that are populated with leaders lacking the ability to value, foster, and manage dissent. Such organizations are also more likely to be staffed by midlevel managers who lack the motivation or skill to elicit views that differ from those of their bosses. When those in the middle suspect that things are amiss, they tend to ignore their own concerns. Instead, they defer to others in authority, justifying their inaction by attributing greater knowledge and wisdom to their superiors.
9. Short term thinking about money is a factor in many accidents.
10. Dangers arise when regulators and watchdog agencies develop financial and political ties to the entities they are supposed to be regulating and watching.
11. Regulators are morally culpable when they do not take action.
12. Collapse of firms were result of the corrosive effects of envy, greed and divided loyalties, combined with the deeper issue of organizational culture and its role in the fostering of disaster. The consequences are severe when watchdogs become consultants to the firms.
13. Many solutions to risk reduction involve going against the beliefs and biases. When ignored, most risks do not somehow take care of themselves, or simply cease to be an issue.
14. Each uncorrected risk is one more accident waiting to happen.
15. Truth will not come out in organizations which punish the offenders. Accident investigation is a fact finding mission not a fault finding mission.
16. Many of the disasters including natural disasters are preventable. In all cases, the severity can be reduced by better planning; hard work and a mind open to the nature of risk. The question is whether we have the wisdom and the will to change.
17. Risk versus uncertainty: Risk is associated with something going badly wrong, whereas uncertainty involves outcomes of any kind.
18. Unknown probabilities are riskier.
19. People see greater risk when making decisions about which they feel comparatively ignorant (sometimes, it is the other way).  The more we know the less respect we give.
20. In the modern world, many of the unfortunate outcomes occur to other people, not to the decision-maker and his kin.
21. Being RISK BLIND underlies most tragedies. Knowledge should be available and to be understood by the decision makers.
22. Most of the times, technology is not always well behaved. Innovators do not fully understand the behavior of the systems they create.
23. Emerging technology has not had the time to accumulate a substantial body of experience through use under varied conditions (i.e. not fully tested before put into practice).
24. Engineering personnel might have a hunch about a particular risk but lack culturally acceptable proof that the risk is real. In such a situation, the organization can behave as if conditions are safe until the hunch can be verified as a real risk through further testing or a real-life accident. Conversely, the organization can assume that conditions are risky until it can be proved safe.
25. Wishful thinking: Thinking the way it pleases us.
26. We see what we expected to see, not what was actually there.
27. Under pressure, people often see what they want to see, especially if their push the company and subordinates in a particular direction.
28. Causes for an accident: i) cold causes: unintentional mistakes, although not unimportant; ii) warm causes: include ignoring weak signals of danger and other bureaucratic inefficiencies in response to indications of risk – these choices appear less innocent than many design errors because they involve decision-makers’ priorities and judgment in the face of explicit, identified risks; iii) hot causes: deliberately subordinating safety to financial and political pressure – unethical and immoral decisions – often consist of conscious decisions that may well expose people to harm without their knowledge, and certainly without their consent.
29. Design errors are central to many accidents – not visible till tragedy strikes.
30. Design weaknesses often fall into two categories: the obvious and the subtle.
31. Faulty design creates latent unsafe conditions that can result in an accident under particular circumstances.
32. Design issues are the responsibility of the management, not of the workers.
33. People are tempted by short-term gains or coerced by social pressure, and then their risky behavior is strongly reinforced when they repeatedly get away without incident. People develop comfort with deviations that did not cause any accident/wrong behavior and forget to be afraid.
34. Inability to eliminate recurring warning signals shows system failure.
35. Eleventh hour meetings are generally ineffective environments in which unpopular theories with little evidence are not considered/given due weightage.
36. Ignoring weak signals is the norm in many organizations; it occurs in business and public policy as well as in science.
37. It is easy to find causes for an accident after it occurs, but one should find before accident occurs.
38. Progress inevitably engenders risk.
39. Improving safety also encourages risk taking.
40. People rely on instrumented systems assuming they function as per design intention but the actual behavior of these instruments can vary depending upon their installation, they do not behave as expected leading to difficulties which are severe during emergencies.
41. If responses take decades but hazards take far longer to develop, all is well. If the relationship is reversed - as was the cause during floods, then things may end in disaster.
42. In many organizations, decisions have to be approved by higher-ups, a process that inevitably slows things down.
43. Redundancy is often the key to risk protection.
44. Complex systems introduce unknown failure scenarios (KISS – keep it stupid simple?).
45. Many accidents can be traced to various faults with monitoring and control systems, information overload to the operator, inadequate training.
46. The shift to software-intensive systems has made man-machine partnerships far more complex than we fully understand. Highly reliable technology makes people less vigilant, since human beings are not effective monitors of situations that rarely fail. Employing more comprehensive and reliable systems only exacerbates the problem. Although such systems are more reliable, they are more boring to monitor as well as more difficult to diagnose.
47. Layers of protection include safety procedures; training programs; specialized hardware interlocks; monitors, alarms, and warnings; and various forms of containment systems.
48. Catastrophes occur when defensive systems fail or deliberately disabled.
49. Butterfly effect: The idea that small differences can lead to major consequences down the road and at a distance is often called the butterfly effect (small is big, monsters looking innocent).
50. Energy conservation, would not only reduce dependence on imported oil, but it would also save consumers money and cut urban air pollution, acid rain, greenhouse gases, the production of radioactive wastes, trade deficits, and long-term defense costs of protecting oil installations.
51. Many important dynamics take a long time to have a visible effect.
52. Facing the choice between the short-term requirements versus the long-term needs is not an easy decision.
53. Understanding how an organization recognizes the hazards it faces, as well as how it changes in response to those hazards, is essential to avoiding disaster.
54. Culture consists of emergent organizational properties that cannot be separated from history, especially the actions taken by company leaders.
55. Basic cultural assumptions are deep-level tenets that employees and members of organizations hold to be true, often without realizing it. Over time, decisions that may start out as opinions, personal preferences, or practical necessities evolve into internalized truths that become second nature throughout the organization. Organizational members who “think the unthinkable” find themselves fighting a war on two fronts: the need to prove their case, and the need to establish the legitimacy of the arguments on which their case is based.
56. Easter Island: Easter Island, the most remote inhabited place on the earth, located in the South Pacific Ocean, not ideal for new inhabitants because of the conditions, but contains giant stone statutes. Read the story of how cultural change brought self destruction in the book (http://flirtingwithdisaster.net/easter-island_321.html).
57. Organizational tunnel vision: People within organizations obsessed with maximizing a single metric are especially prone to being blind to other considerations. In order to keep a schedule, engineers with safety concern have to prove that their concern is valid and the scheduled activity is unsafe rather than to prove that it was safe (Program engineers may ask the safety person, ‘show me how it is unsafe’ instead of program engineers analyzing the concern and proving to the safety engineer that it is safe).
58. Tsunami December 2004: A school girl Tilly Smith on vacation on Maikhao Beach, Thailand noticing frothing and rapid receding of ocean waters alerted her mother, as her teacher told such phenomena as signs of an impending tsunami. Her action led to saving lives of all persons in the beach. (Tsunami waves can travel at 500 miles per hour across the deep ocean).

59. Rules for preventing and coping with accidents:
1. Rule # 1: Understand the risks you face. Evaluate the hazards every time you face. Probabilities don’t matter once any event with serious consequence like tsunami occurs. Whatever be the probability, in the words of Trevor Kletz, “we have done this way 100 times is not acceptable unless an accident on 101^st time is acceptable”. Take action assuming the probability is 100% all the time.
2. Rule # 2: Avoid being denial. Do not neglect warning signs or ignore assuming they are silly.
3. Rule # 3: Pay attention to weak signals and early warnings. These are a telegraph warning of possible danger. Accidents don’t just happen and are often not accidental at all. Do not take it as one time affair. Because there is a problem, something is lacking, the incident occurred. Ignorance will only lead to a serious incident next time. Ignoring weak signals is a pervasive temptation you must learn to overcome.
4. Rule # 4: It is essential not to subordinate the chance to avoid catastrophe to other considerations. Catching plane does not mean you should drive fast on the road. Missing the plane is worthy than injuring yourself or the person on the road and miss the plane anyway.
5. Rule # 5: Do not delay by waiting for absolute proof or permission to act. The signal may not be true and you may become laughing stock if the signal doesn’t turn out to be true. But don’t get disheartened. It is better than allowing damage / loss of lives if the warning sign turns out to be true.

(Intelligence wings issue alerts many times to the government and citizens about terrorist attacks or of similar nature and many times we do not see attacks. This does not mean that we should not believe in those alerts. It is not possible to understand complex minds of people when even we do not know what we want. Then it is much more difficult to understand the nature. It is easy to blame safety and security officials for being overcautious but you are the first person to blame them when incidents occur without realizing that you are responsible for your safety. If you do not know what to do in your house or does not know what is happening in your backyard, who are you to question others?)

60. Don’t squander your early warnings with delays or half measures. If you do, don’t be surprised if the clock runs out.
61. Treat near misses as genuine accidents: It is a safety sine qua non that near misses and other forms of weak signals be treated as if they were genuine accidents. They are considered “free tuition” – valuable lessons without much cost. Always pay attention as if the worst had actually occurred, but develop efficient ways of confirming or disconfirming the actual danger to minimize your time and effort.
62. In many accidents, the bulk of the damage occurs in the aftermath, not during the event. A tremendous amount of harm can be reduced by early warning systems, defense construction, contingency planning, and rapid response. Even when the incident can’t be prevented, as is often the case in natural disasters like the tsunami, anticipation can often mitigate a lot of harm.
63. Politics trumps safety. Here politics means one-upmanship and resultant timelines, pressures, communication or lack of it, and so on.
64. Routine and non-routine accidents: We do not see a hazard until we experience the consequence. Many accidents occur routinely because people are irrational about danger. People are scared about non-routine accidents like anthrax poisoning, nuclear accident, flu epidemics, etc but not about routine accidents like slips, falls, road accidents, deaths from smoking/alcohol consumption which more than non-routine accidents. People overact to rare risks than common accidents.
65. In some cases like living near ocean/volcanic or seismic zone/mountains, etc we may feel that we have no choice but to accept risk, but flirting with disaster out of ignorance or denial rather than rational choice is simply foolish.
66. Residential fires related cooking: Home cooking is responsible for starting over a quarter of the 400,000 residential fires that cause 13,000 injuries and 3,000 deaths in the United States each year. Smoke alarms, fire blankets, and fire extinguishers as well as safe practices for deep-fat frying and other high-risk activities are sensible precautions even if they are not perfect solutions. (Last few years, we are seeing a number of fires and explosions due to rupture of gas piping in residential areas. The common reasons are, digging without authority, not closing the valve properly, corrosion, poor maintenance and monitoring, etc. Still, thousands of miles of gas lines are being laid every year and we are living with them.)
67. The enemies of effectively dealing with low-probability risks are denial, ignorance, and lack of preparation. Denial prevents our dealing with the risks in the first place (not recognizing the hazard); ignorance constrains our choices and distorts our priorities; and lack of preparation forces us to deal with complex problems under emotional pressure and time constraints, vastly increasing the chances of bad judgment and the possibility that we well be overtaken by events. Examine the cumulative risk of all low-probability threats and make your plans according to the rule of avoiding the greater mistake. You may not always make the same choice for each risk, or the same choices as other people, but they will be your choices, made with knowledge and forethought.
68. The consequence of minor risks will be high. A simple event will grow into a monster when we are not prepared.
69. Moving from BYSTANDER to WITNESS to WHISTLE-BLOWER: You may not be able to question the defaulters at all times. Sometimes just “active watching”, visibly taking notes, or writing a concerned e-mail is enough to change the course of a situation. Being visible and questioning clearly inappropriate actions rather than fading into the background often makes a difference, even if it is not a decisive action. Equally important, when someone else takes stand-up action, lending visible support matters a great deal. Individual effort may not be effective, but team effort will make the wrongdoers to change their ways. Silent watching or cooperating with wrongdoers will lead to destruction of the society and the individual also, while taking action / making right noises will make the person confident, satisfied and help the society.
70. Suggestions for Professionals and Managers:
1. We should not be bystanders and should not encourage bystander behavior in those around us.
2. We should all do what we can to ensure that dissent is encouraged, not repressed, and that the channels of complaint are open.
3. We should do what we can to build viable information and reporting systems that widely disseminate risk-related performance information. According to research, when people’s actions go unrecorded, and are therefore undetectable, the chances of shortcuts under pressure rise by a factor of TEN.
4. We should not collude in cover-ups, even minor ones. Such cover-ups may lead to increased difficulty when it becomes necessary to reveal embarrassing facts later on. Every incident should not be covered as acceptable risk.
5. When there is a likely and recordable unacknowledged risk, each of us should assemble our allies and pursue a complaint with the appropriate institutional body. If all else fails, we should consider blowing the whistle (with documents). Most of us are prisoners of institutional realities that tolerate unacceptable risk in the name of practicality. The fallacy in most organizations is that lowering risks is unacceptably expensive. In fact, not only is it probably much less expensive than people think, over the long term it will probably save money as well as lives.
71. Suggestions for Leaders:
1. Realize that practicalities and shortcuts have costs that inevitably even out in time and that one’s choice is to either pay now or pay later. May be your policies will not immediately lead to accidents in your tenure and you get all appreciation for the gains that are short-term, but the organization suffers later when those of your policies lead to catastrophes in the long run.
2. We can’t put a price tag to injuries and deaths and compensation alone is not sufficient to judge the cost.
3. Leadership is often the originator of the financial, scheduling, or political pressures, and thus is the ultimate source of a significant increase in risk. Imposing nonnegotiable performance objectives combined with severe sanctions for failure encourages the violation of safety rules, reporting distortions, and dangerous shortcuts. Putting people in no-win performance situations encourages recklessness and fraud, inevitably increasing the chances of a major catastrophe. Leaders must therefore hold themselves accountable for the inadvertent consequences of their management philosophy and tactics.
4. Pay scrupulous attention to design. When design is faulty, accidents happen. In organizational settings, accidents are never accidental: They are inevitably the result of faulty management, particularly the management of safety.
5. Systemize paying attention to near misses, weak signals, and assessments of engineers and safety officials. Leaders have to create monitoring systems, systematic review procedures, and independent information channels that do not report through the operational chain of command. While safety and risk management is perfectly compatible with efficient operations over the long term, if often runs contrary to it in the short term, especially if there have been long periods of neglect.
6. Recognize that while every organization tolerates some dissent, on certain subjects it does not. Only leaders can eliminate these “undiscussables”. Encourage whistle blowers to get timely information about risks, else bystander behavior is inevitable and affect the organization in the long run.
7. Create effective contingency plans for serious but low-probability risks.
8. Every organization requires robust, independent watchdogs. There is no substitute for regulatory independence and should not be measured in terms of cost of maintaining it.
9. Leadership must subject itself to relentless review and self-criticism.
72. Relabeling problems as opportunities can have true shift in mental framework and reap benefits to the organization.
73. The first big mental shift is accepting the inevitability of accidents and catastrophes without giving in to them. Do not wait until after a disaster strikes.
74. The second big mental shift is appreciating the difference between new ideas and unpracticed old ones. 

Dust explosion in grain elevator - 3 dead, 3 missing

An apparently dust explosion in a grain elevator in US caused 3 deaths and many unconfirmed injuries. 3 persons are missing. The blast effect could be felt upto 4 miles from the place of the incident. The incident occurred while loading corn into a train.The full story is available here.

Drinking water or chemical in a water bottle?

Today in a local daily, I read a person died two days after drinking sanitary fluid phenyl, assuming it as fruit juice. Earlier, I heard from a friend about his relative drinking hydro chloric acid (HCl) in a bottle assuming it as water and developing blisters in the mouth. Before that, I heard another incident of a boy taking water from a jug placed on a water cooler, that was used earlier for phenyl and had symptoms of stomach burning for few days.  There were many lab incidents due to the use of a chemical that is not same as the label on the bottle.
All above incidents stress on importance of proper labeling, safe procedure for handling of chemicals, proper hygienic practices and supervision. Otherwise, such incidents keep recurring at regular intervals.

Can Disobeying a Safety Rule Be Safer than Obeying It?

Can Disobeying a Safety Rule Be Safer than Obeying It?

LINK

The dos and don'ts of weight loss - Yahoo! Lifestyle India

Now-a-days, I am concerned about over weight and its impact on working styles. Found an article in yahoo. The link is given below.

The dos and don'ts of weight loss - Yahoo! Lifestyle India

LINK

To Prevent Accidents, We Must Change Attitudes

We develop attitudes over a period of time due to our past experience and as the experience repeats, beliefs are reaffirmed. Attitudes also develop due to influence from others. Wrong attitudes are due to wrong advice and changing these attitudes requires a lot of effort. It requires teaching with examples, being a role model, and may be some admonishing at the end. The article at the following link dwells upon changing the attitudes for accident prevention.

To Prevent Accidents, We Must Change Attitudes

LINK

There are no exceptions. Follow the Rules, even if it is an emergency

In an incident, a coworker was assisting a crane operator in lifting the injured, by standing on a steel structure without a safety belt or any other protective gear. The employer was charged by OSHA for the violation.
This is an emergency case. But, many times, showing some reason or the other as emergency or important, people wilfully disobey the rules trading for short term gains. Even the experienced and senior colleagues preach such practices citing the urgent requirement. Funnily, the activities which were not attended for weeks will become suddenly urgent on the day they propose to take up and do not follow any safety procedure because they do not have time at that moment.
The example in the link below will serve as an eye opener to those who take chance by not following safety.
Lessons from a California Case

LINK

Safety incentives: Boon or bane?

Any incentive to employee towards safety programme implementation will help only in the beginning. Later on, they demand more and more which becomes a vicious circle and is like opening so called Pandora's box. If you try increase the standards after attaining and maintaining certain level, you will face resistance from the employees. In fact, as the article says, they may hide the issues and do not report, not only for getting the incentive, but that they may be rebuked by colleagues, if the person is involved/reported accident/near miss and deprived others of the incentives.

http://safetydailyadvisor.blr.com/archive/2011/10/17/safety_management_incentives_pros_cons.aspx#comments?Source=SDF&effort=13

No increase in brain cancer from mobile phone use - Danish study

Earlier, we read from WHO study that mobile phone may cause brain cancer. Now, a Danish study says no increase in brain cancer due to mobile phone use. There are conflicting statements/reports from different study groups. Whatever it is, as electromagnetic energy can have biological impact, it is better to minimize exposure and follow the principle of ALARA i.e as low as reasonably possible.
If you are a business man and sitting at one place use fixed phone instead of mobile phone. If you are on the move, you can postpone your conversation till you reach your residence or office. If you are a marketing executive on the move, use earphones that are declared safe. Use of mobile phone on move also introduces other hazards like lack of concentration and can involve you in road accidents.
You may be lured by mobile applications, but the time spent on surfing or learning the applications is more than the actual gains and burning the pocket.

What is the safe voltage to work?

Many assume 24 V power supply is safe to handle. But an article in the link below shows that shock is possible even at 12 V, some sensation can be felt and secondary effects of such shock can endanger the person.
Even for DC supply, with a body resistance of 500 ohms in wet condition and 41 mA DC current leading to painful shock to women means 500 x 0.041=20.5 V.
People are reluctant to have earthing for the machinery saying that the voltage is less but we do not know what can happen and are ready to trade safety for a worst experience (shock!!!).
http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_1/chpt_3/4.html

Electrocution during cleaning of welding machine

In an incident reported in a local news paper, a person died of electrocution while cleaning the welding machine in the morning. This implies damaged cables and improper/no earthing to the machine. Possibly the power supply was not switched off the previous day and in the same condition, the person would have carried out cleaning of the machine.
It is common to see use of structural columns as return lines and no earthing will be available neither for the machine nor the job on which welding will be done. Sometimes when proper length of cable is not available, people use rods or sheets or similar metal pieces as return lines. It is difficult to ensure safety in unorganized sector and even in organized sectors when the work is outsourced.

Fire accident in a ship at Kakinada port during welding

During welding in a ship, a fire incident took place leading to gutting of some rooms. During any welding, experts advise to maintain atleast 15 m distance around free from combustibles as sparks can travel this much distance. Otherwise, all combustibles in the area likely to be affected should be covered with fire resistant cloth and fire crew should be available in the area to avoid such incidents.

The Hindu : States / Andhra Pradesh : Fire accident in a ship at Kakinada port

LINK

Post Fukushima, Indian nuclear power plants step up safety measures

Post Fukushima, to face such situations, new safety measures were implemented in Indian nuclear power plants (INPPs) for alternate cooling water supply and power backups (diesel generators and batteries). A study shows that INPPs can withstand massive seismic shocks and their low vulnerability to tsunamis.

Indian+N-plants+step+up+safety+measures

LINK

Cylinder explosion during unloading - 2 deaths, 1 injured

The incident of LPG cylinder explosion while transported with oxygen cylinders, root cause analysis, measures to be taken and a PDF file containing some photos are available at the link below.
http://www.citehr.com/360198-cylinder-explosion.html
(The content is reproduced as the author permitted sharing this information without restrictions when some other interested reader enquired in the forum in which this article appeared. Thanks to the author.)

INCIDENT :

Two fatalities & one serious injury occurred in one of the major steel plant, while unloading of gas cylinders from the truck as seen in the photographs.

Brief Description :
During unloading the Oxygen cylinders from a truck which is loaded with 95 Oxygen & 5 LPG cylinders, the oxygen cylinder hit the neck ring of LPG cylinder which gave way its welding causing LPG leak followed by explosion & fire.Further the valve of the oxygen cylinder too got damaged & leaked causing explosion & the cylinder flown like a rocket. Two persons who were engaged for unloading were died & one person met with serious injuries.

Probable Causes :

1) The oxygen cylinders were stored in horizontal position & without protective caps.
2) LPG cylinders were kept along with oxygen cylinders.
3) Smoking in the area.

Lessons to be Learnt :
1) Gas cylinders need to be transported in vertical position
2) No gas cylinder is to be transported / handled without its protective cap. No cylinders should be received in our premises without having its cap.
3) Oxygen cylinder should not be transported along with cylinders containing flammable gas like LPG, Acetylene etc.
4) No smoking need to be strictly followed during transportation / handling the gas cylinders.
5) Gas cylinders need to be unloaded using standard method & not by throwing them.

Pl review the existing practices and takes appropriate actions. Please communicate to all, own / contractor employees about this incident.

Chlorine gas release - Over one hundred fall sick

As per the report (Toxic gas runs havoc) rupture of rusted pipeline carrying chlorine gas leads to atmospheric discharge and over one hundred persons from the factory, fire service and locals fall sick. The gas causes discoloring of leaves of the trees in the area.

 The pipeline ruptured with a bang and workers inform that the pipeline is old and rusted. The fact that many of the sick were from the factory implies lack of communication, poor awareness about emergency actions and protective measures to be followed by the individuals.

Generally, vessels containing chemicals are tested but not the associated piping. Testing of piping along with containers should be made mandatory and the violators should be punished for endangering the safety of the living beings and the environment.

Four Dead From Toxic Gas Incident at Shipyard | Maritime News | Maritime Executive Magazine

Deaths due to insufficient oxygen - a case of confined space death. Victims were inside the scrapped ship as per the report below.

Four Dead From Toxic Gas Incident at Shipyard | Maritime News | Maritime Executive Magazine

LINK

Union Carbide and the Bhopal Disaster

Union Carbide and the Bhopal Disaster

LINKPublish Post

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=27161

Lab safety - CSB advice

Safety is talked much in industries and followed to some extent. But, the research facilities and academic institutions, where experiments are carried out, this important activity is normally left to the wisdom of the individuals. No study is carried out about hazards in the experiments.

Chemical Safety Board of US recommends the following for improving lab safety.

1. Laboratory safety management plans must include physical as well as chemical exposure hazards.
2. Institutions should ensure that research-specific hazards are evaluated and mitigated.
3. Laboratory researchers need guidance documents to help manage hazardous chemicals that are unique to their research environments.
4. Research-specific written protocols and training are necessary to manage laboratory research risk.
5. Academic institutions must ensure that safety inspectors report directly to those with authority to implement improvements.
6. Incidents and near-misses should be documented, tracked, and communicated.

The full article can be read here. http://pubs.acs.org/cen/government/89/8943gov1.html

Chlorine leaks - impact on people's lives

Following is link that depicts shattering of many lives in US and this is true wherever chlorine and other chemicals are handled.

http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2011/chlorine-accidents

Instantaneous release of chlorine from normal tonners containing about 900 kg chlorine can impact living beings even at a distance of 10 km under worst conditions i.e overcast sky, no wind; with fatalities upto 1 km. Unless otherwise the safe handling procedures are not practiced, these chemicals are much danger than explosives that affect people and property only upto few meters whereas these chemical releases impact persons staying even hundreds of meters away.

How to Measure the ROI of Your Safety Program

A link on measuring payback from safety program implementation is available below.
How to Measure the ROI of Your Safety Program

Though, many times it is difficult to calculate the money spent on safety program,cost of accident, benefits accrued by implementation of safety programme, with extra efforts one can calculate and prove that the organization benefits from a safety programme that gets wholehearted support from all.

The link for indicators to be observed is given below. Meaningful quantification of these indicators can help in calculating cost benefits to the organization.

http://www.safetyxchange.org/financing-safety/achievementbased-safety-metrics?utm_source=emailmarketer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=3802

Hot water causes death of a boy

An young boy died from scalds due to fall of hot water bucket while playing nearby. The boy died two days after the incident while undergoing treatment. Many such incidents occurred as hot containers are within the easy access of innocent children who are not aware of the hazards. Neither the elders take care to keep such containers at height nor have watchful eye on the toddlers.
It may be noted that skin can withstand temperature only upto 42oC. Hot water at 70oC in 1 sec causes a complete loss of skin thickness in adults and 0.5 sec in kids (skin has cooling mechanism like blood circulation, sweating).

The remedial measures to be taken can be found in internet. One such link is listed below.
http://www.burnremedies.com/Scald-Burn.html