Fire And Explosion At Biotechnology Factory

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Figure 1: Ceilings damaged by explosion
Recently, there was an incident involved fire and explosion at biotechnology factory. The incident took place at production workshop for sweetener products. The incident occurred when the production workers poured the sweetener powder into reactor which contained of ethanol. Suddenly, fires came out from reactor and flashed all workers around the area creating an explosion. The explosions caused severe damage to the workshop especially the ceilings and walls. The incident also caused a worker seriously injured and three others injured.
Recommendations
Figure 2: Reactor condition after incident 1. Hazard and operability studies (HAZOP) must be carried out on the process system which involves mixing of powder material (which size is less then 420 micron in diameter) and highly flammable liquid before the process started. 2. Employers must supply workers with suitable personal protective equipment such as fire retardant and free electrostatic cloth, respirator and gloves to avoid electrostatic charge and smell of toxic gaseous. 3. Employers must ensure that workers wear suitable personal protective equipment for maintenance work. 4. A safe system must be designed for pouring of powder (which size is of 420 micron in diameter) into reactor i.e contain of ethanol to avoid workers from activity that can create hazard. Besides, workers are prohibited from pouring the powder into reactor which contain ethanol by themselves. 5. Every process of production activity must be supervised by a trained safety and health officer especially in identifying fire and explosion hazard caused by process production process activity.
References
» http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrostatic_discharge » http://www.esda.org/ » http://www.esdjournal.com/

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