The hydrogen supplier installed a fire-resistant material board adjacent to the high-pressure hydrogen storage banks to prevent any potential jet flames from affecting adjacent high-pressure cylinders for several minutes. The 0.25 mm sandwich board of fiberglass-reinforced, lightweight concrete is easy to maintain and does not rot under outside conditions. This safety measure was implemented just three days after the incident occurred, although it had been planned for a long time.
The hydrogen supplier installed a semi-automated sprinkler system to cool the high-pressure hydrogen storage banks to prevent any potential escaping hydrogen gas that might ignite in jet flames from affecting other hydrogen cylinders. In addition, the dry piping system above the high-pressure hydrogen storage banks can be flooded with water by the fire department in case of fire or leakages in the high-pressure banks.
The alarm system was refined to send automated messages to relevant personnel informing them of gas/fire alarms.
The remote control room where service personnel are monitoring the fueling station is now equipped with an additional audio system to draw faster attention to alarms.
All plans and emergency procedures have been reviewed, adjusted and edited to document changes and fully capture the lessons learned.
Other learnings: Training for worst-case scenarios is recommended in order to be prepared for those siutations.