Explosion in a Trays Cleaning Unit
An autowash machine was being used to clean aluminum trays with burnt on product. The autowash in normal situations cleans steel trays not aluminum. The cleaning fluid contained Na OH. On contact with the cleaning fluid a "froth" formed in the autowash tub, accompanied with hydrogen gas.A cleaning worker was requested to clean up the froth, and used a wet vacuum cleaner. This cleaner seemingly also removed the hydrogen element with the froth, which in turn ignited due to sparking from the vacuum cleaner motor.
Event Date
July 15, 1999
Record Quality Indicator
Region / Country
Event Initiating System
Classification of the Physical Effects
Nature of the Consequences
Causes
Facility Information
Application Type
Application
Specific Application Supply Chain Stage
Components Involved
Wet vacuum cleaner
Storage/Process Medium
Location Type
Location description
Industrial Area
Operational Condition
Consequences
Number of Injured Persons
2
Number of Fatalities
1
Currency
Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned
Unknown
Event Nature
Emergency Action
No emergency action was stated in the report
Emergency Evaluation
There was a lack of understanading of the cleaning product used and its applications, as COSHH sheets on this product, available on site, explicitly stated that this particular product was not to be used on aluminum.
Detonation
No
Deflagration
No
High Pressure Explosion
No
High Voltage Explosion
No
Source Category
References
References
Event description provided by HSE, original source confidential