Document 4azkgg58ELdJQOYnR05rRe1Nj

PROOHAH HliJUTLG C7 7IK2L CHLC-RIDS SASCT ASSOCIATION January Bi-February 1, 1973? Atlantas Ga, - fetv Standards,. E. T. Biahl, Pantasote The suggestion was that various groups should fora and work out `'standards of operation*1. Ho guidance was pro vided* Others objected to Jtr, Biehl later concerning the impact to the industry as a whole should standards be accepted by the Vinyl Chloride Safety Association* Consequently one standard or alternate standards will be established by Mr. Bogart of Tenneco relating to safe operation of blend or 3lurry tanks (see item 2 for reason)* Each company nay check out his method of operation and send to Hr* Bogart to tabulate and organise to a presentable form. Legal department concurrence will be necessary* There are good arguments for the. committee establishing standard procedures to incorporate the safest possible way to approach each possible problem, falPSive-Ranges, In Reactors. Slurry Tanks^aadJVesgglfa, ?. Bogart, Tenneco On November 30, 1972 at 10:00 a,m, there was an explosion in an empty 30,000 gallon slurry tank. The agitator had a vortex breaker attached and one or two sections of the vortex breaker had broken off causing a rather severe whip to develop* As the tank was emptied the agitator was not shut off* The whip increased sufficiently to cause the shaft to rub against the tank where it entered creating sufficient heat or sparks to ignite the VCM vapors present. There were 2 hatches about 30** square which were bolted down and the top half of the tank itself was bolted on. The explosion tore off the two hatches and the top half of the tank and sent it 75 feet into the air over the next tank and into a road* Small pieces of metal flew around like shrapnel* Reports of hearing the explosion came from 14 miles away. Three contractors men working nearby were injured slightly, treated at the hospital and released. The hatch of the adjacent tank which was not bolted down was sucked off and the vapors ignited but did not explode, Tenneco nor/ very expensively sweeps their slurry tanks with nitrogen. In a response to the question, several indicated air was used to sweep the tanks, some do nothing* The question to those using air sweep as to how well the tanks have been checked throughout the vapor space brought little response, Tenneco has now installed a lead collar around the agitator entrance in the tardus. They calculated 'the proper explosion vent sis and found it to be half the top* I did not get dimensions of the tank but gather it to be more or less standard dimension. The vortex breaker has been removed from the shaft end one installed in the tank bottom. Startstep switches hsv been put at floor level as well as olar\nr' tope Personnel arc not permitted on top of tanks unles^'^'^ . 2 - absolutely necessary* The vent stacks have been elevated to 65 feet above level due to the proximity of a control room* The question as to vapor concentrations at the Bird effluent and -whether Class 1 Group D Switches were used at the Bird was raised. Are there any hazards in the dryer area from vapors? 3. IsauatriBJLFlre Brigade. Dan McDonald, Ethyl Ccrp. The plant in Baton Rouge employs about 2500 people. They have found that actually building a fire and letting the people put it out creates interest. They use formal training at LSU and/or Texas ASK for 8 hours a year for the fire brigade and 12 hours inplant. A yearly banquet is provided and after each fire, a treat to show appreciation. Repetition is the only way to be sure everyone knows his job* 4. Q5HA__Imnact-1972. Ronnie Vant, Pantasote He went through the procedure of a surprise visit by an inspector and the 22 citations they received. 5. Accident.Experience. Joe I-ludd, General Tire This was confession time. A. During shutdown mechanics were steam cleaning a monom r line which ran from the storage tank to the building,. A Victolic coupling broke away under pressure and monomer came out,. The problem was improper installation of the indicator or a ball valve. About 4000 gallons VCK was lost, ran into sewer and headed toward boiler house. The boilers were shut down and no explosion occurred. B. A 15,000 gallon horizontal monomer tank had 2 outlets on the bottom, both with 4W valves. On one valve a flange with a 3/4" drain line was provided for draining water and they depended on the 3/4" valve to contain the monomer. The 3/4" line broke for some reason and the operator was overcome while trying to get to the 4" valve to close. The 4" valve is now always closed except while draining water, C. ICI encountered peroxides, soft, white, putty-like, sensitive to heat and impact. Energy contained was 1.34 joules wet and 0*64 joules dry. Benzoyl peroxide energy is 10 joules, soluble in CCI4, toluene. They deactivate with water at 80 C. Now they check 0*> in vapor phase and hold less than 200 ppm. Speaker Mr. E, J. Young. OCC 2595 3 D. Prcmonclones Industrlalos Mexicanas, S.A, Mr. Pablo Enriques, In December 1971 there vere Natalities when one man fell from the top of a blend tank because he had inhaled too much vinyl vapor and another was found asphyxiated on top of the blend tank. Vapor content when measured in the manhead was 8600 ppm* There was evidence of barbltuates in his blood but no conclusion was drexm from this* E. Diamond, H. E* Birr. They use the Lenape Forge head. An operator was to prepare an empty reactor for entry but picked a two hour old full one. He did not check reactor pressure nor did he observe other precautions. The lever was hard to move so he assumed it was so because some do get that way and pried the lever over to the open position. The contents of the reactor emptied through the manhead and the deluge operated about 4? minutes spraying 3-400,000 gal. water over area. The operator was discharged for failure to observe safety procedures. He mentioned 2400 gal. SS reactors but I am not sure at which plant since they vere not directly related to the incident above. F* Pantasote. F. T. Biehl. Reported a power failure starting with surges from 8 ?,M. until 12 midnight and then out until 4 A.M. There were 5 relief valv s venting vinyl at one time or another with much vinyl vapor around. Ho fire nor explosion. 6. Others. (1) Deionised water was used to pressure recovered monomer. Pump failed and monomer began coming out of the deionized water storage tank. (2) Reported incidence of a reactor drop valve being opened by mistake while reacting. Nov have put a pin arrangement so valve cannot be opened when the reactor has pressure in It. (I*m not sure this Is the best thing to do since a batch could not be transferred should a seal or manhead gasket go.) (3) Goodrich has put the deionized water inlet to the storage tank down to the bottom to prevent static buildup. (4) Norsk Hydro, S.A.. Hr. Per Ranges. Monomer leaked through a valve with a teflon seat (can't recall de tails) and vent into pipe sewer drain. There was enough monomer that a blockage downstream and near the entry to the sewer pipe occurred due to freezing. The floor lifted between the blockages but fortunately there was no fire, explosion nor injury. (?) Ethyl Corp., Baton Rouge. They use a quick open manhead. Reactor was closed, checked for leaks, charged* came up to pressure and the manhead let go with 20,000 lbs. VCM lost. There was a flash with one man burn d over 80$ of his body. One man jumped to ground or floor 20 feet below with a brok n arm and foot as a r suit. Two others were injured. There wer flames burning hours. There are lawsuits involving millions ef dollars. (6) Seven companies have h^d -4- mass decomposition of hot catalyst during the past year, one had two occasions. In one c^ ss the people cheeking the fcOK observed the paper in which the dry" ice was packed. After the dry ice evaporated the paper still stood and gave a false Impression* In another case the day*s requirements were weighed out in the walk-in storage cabinet. They reasoned some contamination caused a reaction. Design of the cabinet was good. They have since set up another weighing station else where. (7) Liquid VCK was relieved into a stack line leading to a 113 ft, stack. To hasten its evaporation nitrogen flow to the line was increased. Unfortunately the lino had a low spot and liquid VCil was blown out the stack. The vapors entered the boiler rooms and tripped the deluge system. Five boilers went out but not from the deluge. A low order explosion is guessed but there is no evidence to support it. 6. ^In,,Vlnvl,ghlorid^ Monomer Plants. Sid Pitts, Conoco They have a single train 600,000.000 lbs./year unit started in 1968. Spheres are used for storage and are deluged and dyked with heat actuation and manual remote trip. Valves have remote controls ana are innerlocked with the pumps. Loading lines are solid and have a vent recovery system. Use nitrogen to purge cars for entry. They checked excess flow valves once and found blocked open with polymer. Eoth ICC and LOT regulations require them but specify no maintenance. Bolts holding some domes have worked loose. Blood and urine are checked periodically. They have gas detectors In the control rooms set for 20 and hCf* LEL, There is also one detector in the intake to the Control Room. 7* Skipped. .8* Pflae-Bappllae of-Eydrocarbon^, Arnold Allemange. Report has been sent in and 3er.t to Chemical Plant. Wl/K/rc occ 2597 PROGRAM MINUTES OF THE VINYL CHLORIDE SAFETY ASSOCIATION November 10, 11, 12, 1971, Rochester, N. Y. 1. Catalyst Handling - 0. D* Schaaf, Goodrich Various so called safe methods of handling the "hot" catalysts were discussed* From all comments heard I can only conclude that IPP Is not widely used but other of the diisopercarbonates are more favored primarily due to fisheye problems* The two that seemed to be the most likely candidates (of Luddol's) are Lnpersol 223 end 225* One company professed Hie use of 228 (ACSP). There was much discussion about handling the plastic bottles which they are packaged in* Tenneco Mexico uses 228 but the local plants are using 223 or 225 (relatively sure) Goodrich is using one of these packaged in plastic bottles* Only enough for one charge is carried to the reactor r om at a time. A rating system is used to classify the hazardous nature of the catalysts. Class 1 - greatest hazard (IPP) Class 2 - Intermediate (**5$ IPP) Class 3 - Moderate explosion - severe fire (IPP diluted to 20$) Class - Moderate fire Class 5 - Little or no (L202) Reviewed F.M* and F*I.A. rules for storage with which we are familiar* A.I.A. has a bulletin on catalyst storage* NFPA is preparing standards for storage and will probably be used by all agencies. Various methods of getting catalyst into the reactor were discussed. General Tire pumps in with positive displace ment air driven pump. Solvent is used to flush pump* Head is drained. The same pump wo'ild be used for short*? stop if needed. 2. Welding Practices - J. T. Barr, Air Products Welding is not permitted in a building with monomer* Most companies responded the same. They use an over-voltage cut-out to protect welder. Che source of ignition is plugged line and some incidents Uhere released vapors ex ploded were discussed. 3* Operator Training, Programs - J. Mudd, General Tire 'hen the General plant was originally started there was a work order system for maintenance and good follow through. By 1958 (?) the system had deteriorated to "seniority and a hunch" - nothing got fixed and everyone was unhappy. Grievances were numerous and petty. They decided to change their organizational philosophy to do a b tt r Job. They hired more people, set up tests, training programs (overtime basis), progression periods, reinstated work order program and very carefully kept track of costs. They uped vendor training movies and talks and denon^p^i^rjs^ -2- Their original material to labor c st ratio was 0.69/1*00. Target was set at 01.00/1*00. In three months they had moved up to 0.96/1.00 and are nov 01*22/1*00. Grievances have practically become non-existant and they have no major breakdowns, probably due to increased preventatlv maintenance. They negotiated Into their contract an apprenticeship program with a stepwise progression test schedule at three, six, twelve and lo and 1+2 months. If a mechanic can't pass the test at any given Interval he Is put back for a period and then retested. If he can't qualify he goes out. They reimburse costs for courses in welding, sheet metal working, machine work, etc* at a local VoTech school. The effects of the program are so dramatic they are now working on a program for the operators. Top mechanic's pay Is $4*60/hour. Top operator's pay is 04*40/hour. 4. Emergency. Procedure - W. J. Bradford, 011a All conceivable emergencies should be reviewed and pro* cedures for each person in each area detailed so there is no question as to what to do. Practice makes perfect. Emergency aid from outside sources was reviewed, all of which was covered in a previous meeting. In cases of concentrated Industries there can and often Is a mutual aid agreement. 9. Job Safety Analysis - W. J. Boyle, Jr,, Monsanto A paper by Boyle is attached which covers the mechanical approach to the JSA. The success of this approach Is something that hinges on the attitude of those Involved and literally comes from the bottom, the employee who is Involved and Is affected most by the analysis. They had one plant Install such a system with great success, whereupon an executive vice president declared it would be good for another plant he had under his command and ordered it done Immediately. It was a dismal failure. The time schedule the VP laid dorm was not sufficient to throw out the idea to the employees and gain their support first. The program must be generated and promoted by the employees thonselves to truly be successful. 6. Bulk Handling and Storage * W. Kiringoff, Hooker Objectives Involve personnel protection, plant protection and fire fighting equipment. Vapors present shc'tld be maintained less than 900 ppm to protect people. Others commented that 9C ppm \ms the current standard because of the carcinogenic problems reported by Dr. Viola. Types of masks were reviewed. Aluminum should not be used with monomer. Som sev re corrosion pr blems have be n noted. Unloading and pumping problems were discussed along with oxygen content and venting. Oxygen analyzers us d ar Eayes and Talidine. occ ^ 3 The most Interesting phase here was the discussions on whether to dyke or not. Logic expressed favored not dyking where runoff Is in rural areas because the liquid will evaporate faster and dissipate faster* Containing the nonomer under the tank or sphere simply lengthens the exposure and reduces the ability to approach the tank for whatever reasons* I gather the Insurance companies require dykes* The suggestion was offered to limit the amount of monomer stored in an area (no definition of amount or size of area)* 7* Industry-Wide Safety Hazards - E* T* Biehl, Pnntasote Many operating procedures were reviewed with the con clusion that standards can be set forth by industry or the government* Mr* Allen of Conoco suggested we hire a full time secretary to organize and develop standards with assistance from all, of course* (Mr* Allen is always suggesting, hiring out of work engineer for some thing or other*) Someone moved that the new executive committee organize ad hoc committees of three members each, to be concerned tilth arriving at standards to recommend to the industry* Each committee would have limited concern and with a number of committees functioning . the work could be fairly evenly distributed through the association. I can't recall whether we voted or not* I believe we should support the project* 8. pregpTffe, ygsggl |hpp<?<rifipq.gnd. Rpftprfl.jteefllpg, - W. M. Illff, Unlroyal One man Is responsible for all vessel records* An annual visual Inspection of both outside and Inside of each vessel Is carried out* The question of entry into vessels where peroxides night be present arose with three answers caustic* hot water and "just keep it wet". Vessel layouts are usea to record changes In the surfaces* One representative said some firm does sonic testing of vessels free* 9. Pressure Teat Procedures - C. E. Bowman, Crrblde Carbide has logged all vessels with an inspection and testing schedule Into a computer which prints a monthly tab Identifying vessel and Its program. They have a large complex with many vessels which makes this program feasible. Originally all vessels irere tested each six months but gradually experience Indicated longer cycles for nnny. Reactors are tested with pressure 160 psig with 1 psig drop in pressure allowsbl in 1? minutes* For vacuum test, 100.gallons of water is charged and full vacuum pulled for 30 minutes. The water becomes part f the charge. They have relief valves on all lines between vessel and block valves. OCC 2600 -b .10 Plant Supervision. - C. 0. Thompson, Tenneco Their new plant is easier to supervise than the old one (fire and explosion August 1969; and has some semi-auto matic controls. The additional features built into plant and procedure cost 0.2 cent/lb. resin, of which 0.1(fAb. resin is for safety. There are 2 personnel contacts per day per supervisor and are of 2-? minutes duration. Thi3 averages a contact with each operator each four days. After the August 1969 fire and explosion the safety pro gram was reviewed and found to be totally non-existant; this was deemed to be without merit and. consequentlyv a new plant manager was appointed with the full under standing that safety is not to be compromised. 11. Facor. Cloud Dispersion - S. J. Moll, Borden We are currently appraised of the program which eliminates the need for further comment here. 12o Hew Federal Safety Standards - P. Bogart, Tenneco 1 got the impression that Tenneco has already had problems with the inspectors in some of their plants. The present Inspectors are well trained and know their legal rights. They will look for all violations of safety even to the Exit sign with a burned out light. The inspecteds attitude may have a lot to do with how many infractions are found and how severe they are judged to be as far as citations are concerned. Where safety problems do exist the attitude will be th aids such as aspirators or ear muffs will be acceptable after all mechanical remedies have been exhausted. e problem cannot be corrected, then ear muffs (for example; will be acceptable. Much concern was expressed over such raw materials as lead compounds. 13- Vinvl Monomer Sniffing - L. A. Lemaster, Dow Ho one has been found to be sniffing VCM yet but there exists that possibility since it can cause a "high". Other chlorinated hydrocarbons have been used as well as many other chemicals some with disasterous results. Typical sniffer has been found to be emotionally Immature and unstabl . OCC 2601 5 14. Noise_Suppression - H. E. KUng, American Chemical Discussed new noise regulations with which I believe we are familiar. They use a portable meter with more than one wave length for their in-plant checking. Curtains can be hung around trouble spots. Urethane foam has been used. Signs are placed In trouble spots to warn of nols level and prescribe ear plugs or muffs. Miscellaneous Items Tcnneco reported about one near-fatality where a man was lying down on a tank with his head and arms Inside to flush the tank. He was overcome by vinyl vapors and had he not been discovered accidentally would have been a fatality. Man was suspended for a period of time for violation of safety rol where a buddy was to have been present. On their reactors there Is a lock on the manhead. Only th lead operator can open and he then puts a chain across the manhead until it Is fully approved to enter. Great American reported a fatality where a man entered a reactor without his buddy present and had no wristlets on. His buddy discovered him unconscious in the reactor, got h lp tried to pull him out by his belt which broke and finally put wristlets on him and then they pulled him out. Estimated time In the reactor without his buddy, 3-5 minutes - estimated time to get out of the reactor, 3*5 minutes - DOA. ' Someone reported use of the portable explosion-proof lamps one of which apparently leaked In water and exploded. They are good only In dry locations. Another reported about a plug cock used as a block valve which had the handle Installed 90 wrong after a routine maintenance repair. Needless to say the valve didn't hold at a critical time because It was open when the handle said "closed". A fire and some damage resulted but I can't recall the amount. A Shell man reported on the loss of a large volume of monom r at sea. There was little If any Ice visible on the water at any time. Vapors could be smelled but the monomer vaporized about as fast as It was released In the water. One reported the use of ammonia to reduce peroxides or poly peroxides in monomer residues prior to entering and or cleaning storage vessels. Others commented on sodium hydroxide and hot water (above 160F.). There is a portable gas sniffer that is quite accurate and fast and Is the same as th latest sniffer for the sensing systems by J & W for deluge systems. Such a unit can t)CC 2602 lowered Into a reactor to serve as monitor during clernYng. 6 We had a presentation lay J 4 \! in the evening of the second day. (Charles F. Kroshel of the Bacharach Instrument Co.) If we have not Investigated these systems I highly recommend we do. Those who use them seem to feel they are the best. Deluge systems were discussed only briefly. There was nothing new except the progress on the vapor cloud dispersion program and the vapor detection systems. These detection units snif and report simultaneously now so that there is no time delay regardless of the number of units. Reaction termination is usually accomplished with styreney alpha methyl styrene or isoprene. Reaction termination is temporary depending on state of reaction and quantity used. Precaution - have positive way to Inject stopper such as nitrogen pressure or positive pump driven by emergency power source. There was no discussion on high pressure water sparking. WWM/rc Attachment W. W. Hadden OCC 2603