Some equipment such as vibratory conveyors and screens are meant to move, but in most other equipment, vibration is not desirable. It can lead to piping and equipment damage including premature failure. A new compressor system was starting operation (Diagram A) The...
On August 4, 2020, a massive explosion occurred in Beirut, Lebanon that killed at least 160 people, injured more than 5,000 and left an estimated 300,000 people homeless*. At this time, no estimate of damages or cause of the explosion are...
An employee used alcohol-based hand sanitizer, according to current recommendations for COVID-19 personal hygiene. After application, but before the liquid sanitizer had fully evaporated and dried, the individual touched a metal surface where a build-up of static...
There have been many fires and explosions in our industry over the years due to ignition during spark-producing Hot Work. The May 2020 Beacon covered the fatal consequences from one such event. One element of preparing for Hot Work is to check for – and prevent – the...
A plant was restarting after a shutdown. The pulley of a double-lobe blower on a mist separator vent line (Figure 1) suddenly broke while rotating, explosively expelling fragments. Fortunately, the pulley guard (Figure 2) captured the fragments. If the guard had been...
An explosion on October 13, 2002, propelled large fragments of debris offsite, some landed near crude oil storage tanks. Three people were injured, but fortunately, no fatalities occurred. Steam leaking through manual block valves heated crude Mononitrotoluene (MNT)...
