Explosion at a Hydrogen Furnace
Two employees were working on a electric furnace under hydrogen atmosphere that had jammed. The furnace exploded. The employees sustained flash burns to their faces and were taken to the hospital, where they were treated and released later the same day. The retrieval tool they were using was not suitable for servicing a hydrogen furnace, and may have been the ignition source for the explosion. The furnace had not been purged for 10 hours, as required by the manufacturer.
Event Date
December 5, 1998
Record Quality Indicator
Region / Country
Event Initiating System
Classification of the Physical Effects
Nature of the Consequences
Cause Comments
The furnace had not been purged for 10 hours, as required by the manufacturer.
Facility Information
Application Type
Application
Specific Application Supply Chain Stage
Components Involved
Hydrogen furnace
Location Type
Location description
Industrial Area
Pre-event Summary
The furnace had not been purged for 10 hours, as required by the manufacturer. The retrieval tool the workers were using was not suitable for servicing a hydrogen furnace, and may have been the ignition source for the explosion.
Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned
Furnace operation should follow the manufacturer's requirement for regular purging. Care should be taken in selecting retrieval tool avoiding them acting as ignition source.
Event Nature
Emergency Action
Unknown
Detonation
No
Deflagration
No
High Pressure Explosion
No
High Voltage Explosion
No
Source Category
References
References
OHSA incident report:
https://www.osha.gov/ords/imis/accidentsearch.accident_detail?id=170764…