Sparking during liquid transfer

Help us improve hse.gov.uk

Complete a short survey[16]

Accident summary

The system involved in this near miss is a lined storage tank, lined pipework and lined tote. The totes were filled from the storage tank by pressurisation of the tank with nitrogen forcing the liquid through the pipework into the tote. The incident occurred as loading was nearly complete, and nitrogen was flowing through the pipework. An employee noticed 15 cm sparks between the metal straps on the tote and the metal lid holding the dip pipe and vent line. As the fluid was corrosive and not flammable, the consequences of this incident were not severe.

Failures in technical measures

  • The metal frame of the tote was not adequately earthed so that a static charge generated within the liquid could induce sufficient charge on the metal frame to generate a spark between the metal frame and the lid.
  • Earthing[17]: temporary storage

References

'Sparks Fly During Process Transfer', Loss Prevention Bulletin, Issue No. 114, Dec 1993, p19, Institution of Chemical Engineers, ISSN 0260-9576.

Link URLs in this page

  1. COMAHhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/comah/index.htm
  2. Overview - Backgroundhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/comah/background/index.htm
  3. Seveso IIIhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/seveso/index.htm
  4. COMAH Regulations 2015https://www.hse.gov.uk/comah/background/comah15.htm
  5. Cost recovery in detailhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/comah/charging/index.htm
  6. The COMAH Competent Authorityhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/comah/authorityindex.htm
  7. Guidancehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/comah/guidance.htm
  8. Competent authority guidance and key internal CA procedureshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/comah/ca-guides.htm
  9. Notificationshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/comah/notification/index.htm
  10. Submitting public informationhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/comah/submitting-public-information.htm
  11. Establishments subject to COMAH 2015https://www.hse.gov.uk/comah/comah-establishments.htm
  12. Emergency plan testing during coronavirushttps://www.hse.gov.uk/comah/external-emergency-plan-tests-during-coronavirus.htm
  13. Resourceshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/comah/resources.htm
  14. Safety alertshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/comah/alerts/index.htm
  15. Investigation reportshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/comah/investigation-reports.htm
  16. Complete a short surveyhttps://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3YY388L
  17. Earthinghttps://www.hse.gov.uk/comah/sragtech/techmeasearthing.htm
  18. COMAH: Notification formhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/comah/assets/docs/comah-notification-form.xlsx
  19. A guide to the COMAH regulations 2015 (L111) https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/l111.htm
  20. Leadership for the major hazard industrieshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg277.htm
  21. Better alarm handlinghttps://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/chis6.pdf
  22. Chemicalshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/chemicals/index.htm
  23. Nuclearhttp://www.onr.org.uk/
  24. Managing human factorshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/humanfactors/index.htm
  25. Safety bulletinshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/safetybulletins/index.htm
  26. Seveso III Directive https://www.hse.gov.uk/seveso/index.htm

Glossary of abbreviations/acronyms on this page

COMAH
Control of major accident hazards

Is this page useful?

2020-07-31