INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS
Facility:
Texaco Refinery
Location:
Milford Haven, UK
Date of accident:
24 July 1994
Type of accident:
- Release of toxic/flammable materials
- Explosion
- Fire
Offshore/onshore accident:
Onshore
Texaco Refinery, Milford Haven, UK, 24 July 1994
SUMMARY
As a consequence of flammable hydrocarbon liquid being continuously pumped into a process vessel that, due to a valve malfunction, had its outlet closed, an explosion occurred. The flare system was not designed to cope with this excursion from normal operation resulting in a failure occurred in the outlet pipe.
20 tonnes of a mixture of hydrocarbon liquid and vapour were released, ignited and subsequently exploded. This caused a major hydrocarbon fire at the flare drum outlet and a number of secondary fires.
LESSONS
- Inadequate maintenance of plant and instrumentation
A control valve being shut when the control system indicated it was open. - Plant modification
Modification of the plant had been carried out without an assessment of the potential consequences. - Control Room Design: need to address plant layout and ergonomic issues
Control panel graphics did not provide necessary process overviews. Excessive number of alarms in emergency situation reduced the effectiveness of operator response. - Emergency Response/Spill Control
Attempts to keep the unit running when it should have been shut down
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