Category: Accidents

Accident Description
Three accidents involving methanol which injured children during lab demonstrations are examined by the CSB. All the incidents involved demonstrations of flames – usually with a color additive – using methanol as the flammable liquid. In all three cases there was a flash back to the methanol bulk containers, and fire engulfed members of the viewing audience who were not protected by any physical barriers.

“After the Rainbow” is a CSB video safety message focusing on preventing accidents in high school chemistry labs

Investigation Status
The CSB’s safety bulletin was released at a news conference in Denver, CO on October 30, 2014.

Accident Description
An explosion ripped through the New Cumberland A.L. Solutions titanium plant in West Virginia on December 9, 2010, fatally injuring three workers. The workers were processing titanium powder, which is highly flammable, at the time of the explosion.

Investigation Status
The CSB’s final report was approved 2-0 at a public meeting in Charleston, WV.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Accident Description
An explosion and fire led to the fatal injury of seven employees when a nearly forty-year-old heat exchanger catastrophically failed during a maintenance operation to switch a process stream between two parallel banks of exchangers at the Tesoro refinery in Anacortes, Washington

Investigation Status
The CSB’s final report was approved 3-0 at a public meeting on May 1, 2014.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Accident Description
On the evening of January 12, 2009, 2 refinery operators and 2 contractors suffered serious burns resulting from a flash fire at the Silver Eagle Refinery in Woods Cross, Utah. The accident occurred when a large flammable vapor cloud was released from an atmospheric storage tank, known as tank 105, which contained an estimated 440,000 gallons of light naphtha. The vapor cloud found an ignition source and the ensuing flash fire spread up to 230 feet west of the tank farm. On November 4, 2009, a second accident occurred at the Silver Eagle Refinery in Woods Cross, Utah, when a powerful blast wave –  caused by the failure of a 10 inch pipe – damaged nearby homes.