Safety board investigation of explosion at paint and coatings plant leads to recommendations

Washington — Chemical facilities should be confirming that equipment can function within the safe operating limits documented in process safety guidance while ensuring quality during all situations – including emergencies, the Chemical Safety Board says.

The recommendations are part of a recently released final report on a fatal April 2021 vapor explosion and fire at the Yenkin-Majestic facility in Columbus, OH. The company manufactures paint and coatings. One worker died and eight others were injured when the manway lid and gasket of a kettle reactor failed, releasing a flammable vapor cloud that permeated the plant. The cloud ignited and triggered an explosion and fire.

CSB determined the manway wasn’t designed, constructed or pressure tested to a design pressure appropriate for the process.

The report offers multiple safety lessons:

• Equipment design requirements should account for risks related to pressure and hazardous chemicals when pressure equipment is designed for safety.
• Facilities should use Hierarchy of Controls and Prevention through Design principles through a plant’s entire life cycle to design and maintain fault-tolerant systems, so a single worker action or equipment failure doesn’t result in a catastrophic incident.
• Because flammable dense gases can form ground-level vapor clouds that can cover large distances to reach an ignition source, facilities that handle flammable materials should install lower explosive limit detectors that trigger automatic shutdowns of process equipment, with alarms warning workers to evacuate.
• Facilities that handle flammable or other hazardous materials should ensure awareness of the specific hazard characteristics of materials, educate workers on how to identify and respond to hazardous situations, and cover the hazards in emergency planning processes and procedures.
• Workers should be provided personal protective equipment that safeguards against the hazards they may face in a sudden upset condition or emergency.

“Safe pressure vessel operation, implementation of the Hierarchy of Controls and proper emergency response training for personnel are imperative for thousands of facilities across the country,” Melike Yersiz, incident investigator in charge of the CSB investigation, said in a press release.