Plastic Plant Explosion

Safety Lesson Learned: Plastic Plant Explosion
Location of Incident : Malaysia

Brief Account of Incident
The incident occurred during a maintenance operation. Workers were unbolting a five foot cover plate from a process vessel when the explosion occurred. The vessel was used to collect process wastes during process start ups and shutdowns. Preliminary evidence indicated the vessel may have contained process material from aborted start up that continued to react generating pressurized steam. Workers were unaware of the accumulated pressure when they began unbolting the cover plate. The incident resulted in 3 death.