Process safety management lessons learned from a fire and explosion accident caused by a liquefied petroleum gas leak in an aromatics reforming unit in Taiwan |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Safety, Health and Environmental Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, 1 University Road, Yanchao District, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC;2. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Ministry of Labor, 439 Zhongping Road, Xinzhuang District, New Taipei, Taiwan, ROC;1. Swiss Process Safety Consulting GmbH, Schönenbuchstrasse 36, CH-4123, Allschwil, Switzerland;2. Covestro Deutschland AG, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Allee 101–103, D-51373, Leverkusen, Germany;1. CSE Center of Safety Excellence (CSE-Institut), Joseph-von-Fraunhofer-Str. 9, 76327, Pfinztal, Germany;2. University of Applied Sciences, Moltkestrasse 30, 76133, Karlsruhe, Germany;1. College of Environment and Safety Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350116, China;2. Fujian Provincial Institute of Architectural Design and Research CO. LTD., Fuzhou, 350001, China;3. Safety and Security Science Group, Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, TU Delft, 2628 BX, Delft, the Netherlands;4. Faculty of Applied Economics, Antwerp Research Group on Safety and Security (ARGoSS), Universiteit Antwerpen, 2000, Antwerp, Belgium;5. CEDON, KULeuven, 1000, Brussels, Belgium |
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| Abstract: | A severe fire and explosion accident was caused by a liquefied petroleum gas leak in Taiwan in 2019. This accident resulted in the loss of approximately US$3.5 billion in output value due to a one-and-a-half-year shutdown after the accident; however, no casualties were recorded at the accident scene. An analysis of the accident pipelines demonstrated that the pipeline leak had been caused by hydrochloric acid corrosion. Cause analysis based on the accident timeline, fault tree analysis, and causal factor charting indicated inadequacies in five elements of process safety management (PSM) namely mechanical integrity (MI), management of change, emergency planning and response, process hazard analysis (PHA), and process safety information (PSI) as the root causes of the accident. Furthermore, insufficient PSI (i.e., a lack of comprehensive understanding regarding corrosion mechanisms) was deemed to have been the core problem leading to the accident. This accident revealed common shortcomings that are often overlooked in PSM implementation in Taiwan; thus, the present research can serve as a vital reference for improving PSM programs in Taiwan. |
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| Keywords: | Process safety management (PSM) Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) Corrosion mechanism Hydrochloric acid corrosion |
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