Process Safety Beacon: Cooling Tower Explosion

 

Process Safety Beacon: Cooling Tower Explosion

This post analyzes an explosion at a cooling tower that was caused by the introduction of flammable hydrocarbons into the return cooling water. The event is examined in the context of the 20 elements of process safety published by the CCPS (The Center for Chemical Process Safety). They are listed below ― the ones that appear to be most relevant to this event are highlighted.

The full post is available at https://psmreport.substack.com/p/process-safety-beacon-cooling-tower.

  1. Process Safety Culture

  2. Compliance

  3. Competence

  4. Workforce Involvement

  5. Stakeholder Outreach

  6. Knowledge Management

  7. Hazard Identification and Risk Management

  8. Operating Procedures

  9. Safe Work Practices

  10. Asset Integrity / Reliability

  11. Contractor Management

  12. Training / Performance

  13. Management of Change

  14. Operational Readiness

  15. Conduct of Operations

  16. Emergency Management

  17. Incident Investigation

  18. Measurement and Metrics

  19. Auditing

  20. Management Review