On August 28, 2008, at about 10:35 p.m., a runaway chemical reaction occurred inside a 4,500 gallon pressure vessel known as a residue treater, causing the vessel to explode violently in the methomyl unit at the Bayer CropScience facility in Institute, West Virginia. Highly flammable solvent sprayed from the vessel and immediately ignited, causing an intense fire that burned for more than 4 hours. The fire was contained inside the Methomyl-Larvin insecticide unit by the Bayer CropScience fire brigade with mutual aid assistance from local volunteer and municipal fire departments. The incident occurred during the restart of the methomyl unit after an extended outage to upgrade the control system and replace the original residue treater vessel. Two company employees who had been dispatched by the control room personnel to investigate why the residue treater pressure was increasing were near the residue treater when it ruptured. One died from blunt force trauma and burn injuries sustained at the scene; the second died 41 days later at the Western Pennsylvania Burn Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Six volunteer firefighters who assisted in the unit fire suppression activities and two contractors working at the facility were treated for possible toxic chemical exposure. The Kanawha-Putnam County Emergency Management Director advised more than 40,000 residents, including the resident students at the West Virginia State University adjacent to the facility, to shelter-in-place for more than three hours as a precaution. The fire and drifting smoke forced the state police and local law enforcement authorities to close roads near the facility and the interstate highway, which disrupted traffic for hours. The Chemical Safety Board (CSB) investigation team determined that the runaway chemical reaction and loss of containment of the flammable and toxic chemicals resulted from deviation from the written start-up procedures, including bypassing critical safety devices intended to prevent such a condition. Other contributing factors included an inadequate pre-startup safety review; inadequate 1 operator training on the newly installed control system; unevaluated temporary changes, malfunctioning or missing equipment, misaligned valves, and bypassed critical safety devices; and insufficient technical expertise available in the control room during the restart. Poor communications during the emergency between the Bayer CropScience incident command and the local emergency response agency confused emergency response organizations and delayed public announcements on actions that should be taken to minimize exposure risk. Although Bayer CropScience reported that “no toxic chemicals were released because they were consumed in the intense fires,” the CSB later confirmed that the only air monitors suitably placed near the unit to detect toxic chemicals were, in fact, not operational at the time of the incident. No reliable data or analytical methods were available to determine what chemicals were released, or predict any exposure concentrations. The methomyl unit used the highly toxic chemical, methyl isocyanate (MIC), in a series of complex chemical reactions to produce methomyl, a dry chemical used to make the pesticide, Larvin. MIC is manufactured in a separate production unit at the facility and stored in large underground pressure vessels. Liquid MIC was pumped to a “day tank” pressure vessel near the Methomyl-Larvin unit, which provided the daily production quantity of MIC for the methomyl unit and the carbofuran unit, which is about 200 feet west of the methomyl unit. The MIC storage tank adjacent to the methomyl unit and the MIC transfer piping between the production unit and the manufacturing units were not damaged, nor did the MIC storage tank overheat or pressurize above the operating limits during the fire.

The use of hazardous chemicals such as methyl isocyanate can be a significant concern to the residents of communities adjacent to chemical facilities, but is often an integral part of the chemical manufacturing process. In order to ensure that chemical manufacturing takes place in a manner that is safe for workers, members of the local community, and the environment, the philosophy of inherently safer processing can be used to identify opportunities to eliminate or reduce the hazards associated with chemical processing. However, the concepts of inherently safer process analysis have not yet been adopted in all chemical manufacturing plants. The Use and Storage of Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) at Bayer CropScience presents a possible framework to help plant managers choose between alternative processing options-considering factors such as environmental impact and product yield as well as safety- to develop a chemical manufacturing system. In 2008, an explosion at the Bayer CropScience chemical production plant in Institute, West Virginia, resulted in the deaths of two employees, a fire within the production unit, and extensive damage to nearby structures. The accident drew renewed attention to the fact that the Bayer facility manufactured and stores methyl isocyanate, or MIC - a volatile, highly toxic chemical used in the production of carbamate pesticides and the agent responsible for thousands of death in Bhopal, India, in 1984. In the Institute accident, debris from the blast hit the shield surrounding a MIC storage tank, and although the container was not damaged, an investigation by the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board found that the debris could have struck a relief valve vent pipe and cause the release of MIC to the atmosphere. The Board's investigation also highlighted a number of weaknesses in the Bayer facility's emergency response systems. In light of these concerns, the Board requested the National Research Council convene a committee of independent experts to write a report that examines the use and storage of MIC at the Bayer facility. The Use and Storage of Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) at Bayer CropScience also evaluates the analyses on alternative production methods for MIC and carbamate pesticides preformed by Bayer and the previous owners of the facility.

Effective process safety programs consist of three interrelated foundations—safety culture and leadership, process safety systems, and operational discipline—designed to prevent serious injuries and incidents resulting from toxic releases, fires, explosions, and uncontrolled reactions. Each of these foundations is important and one missing element can cause poor process safety performance. Process Safety: Key Concepts and Practical Approaches takes a systemic approach to the traditional process safety elements that have been identified for effective process safety programs. More effective process safety risk reduction efforts are achieved when these process safety systems, based on desired activities and results rather than by specific elements, are integrated and organized in a systems framework. This book provides key concepts, practical approaches, and tools for establishing and maintaining effective process safety programs to successfully identify, evaluate, and manage process hazards. It introduces process safety systems in a way that helps readers understand the purpose, design, and everyday use of overall process safety system requirements. Understanding what the systems are intended to achieve, understanding why they have been designed and implemented in a specific way, and understanding how they should function day-to-day is essential to ensure continued safe and reliable operations.

More Incidents that Define Process Safety book describes over 50 incidents which have had a significant impact on the chemical industry as well as the basic elements of process safety. Each incident is presented in sufficient detail to gain an understanding of root causes for the event with a focus on lessons learned and the impact the incident had on process safety. Incidents are grouped by incident type including Reactive chemical; Fires; Explosions; Environmental/toxic releases; and Transportation incidents. The book also covers incidents from other industries that illustrate the safety management elements. The book builds on the first volume and adds incidents from China, India, Italy and Japan. Further at the time the first volume was being written, CCPS was developing a new generation of process safety management elements that were presented as risk based process safety; these elements are addressed in the incidents covered.

This book provides designers and operators of chemical process facilities with a general philosophy and approach to safe automation, including independent layers of safety. An expanded edition, this book includes a revision of original concepts as well as chapters that address new topics such as use of wireless automation and Safety Instrumented Systems. This book also provides an extensive bibliography to related publications and topic-specific information.