Event
- Event ID
- 746
- Quality
- Description
- Five barrels of aluminium dust that had been removed from an outdoor dust collector were sealed and stored in the plant adjacent to electrical panels.
One of them had somehow been contaminated with water, which exothermically reacted with the aluminium dust to form hydrogen gas. The top of the barrel deformed and glowed red. Smoke was observed and an employee sounded a vocal alarm.
The lid blew off the barrel and the mushroom cloud of aluminium dust exploded in a fireball. Nearby combustible material ignited and the sprinkler system activated. The closest employee, sustained second-degree burns of the arm and neck and went to the emergency room for treatment. Due to the warning, there were no other serious injuries. - Event Initiating system
- Classification of the physical effects
- Hydrogen Release and Ignition
- Nature of the consequences
- Macro-region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Date
- Root causes
- Root CAUSE analysis
- The barrel of aluminium dust outdoor dust collector was contaminated with water and produced hydrogen.
Facility
- Application
- Steel And Metals Industry
- Sub-application
- Aluminium processing
- Hydrogen supply chain stage
- All components affected
- aluminium powder, dust collector, barrels
- Location type
- Unknown
- Location description
- Industrial Area
- Operational condition
Emergency & Consequences
- Number of injured persons
- 1
- Number of fatalities
- 0
- Post-event summary
- Smoke from the barrel was observed and an employee sounded a vocal alarm. Despite the following explosion, only the closest employee was injured, Thanks to the warning, there were no other serious injuries.
Event Nature
- Release type
- gas
- Involved substances (% vol)
- H2,
H2O,
Al - Presumed ignition source
- Run-away reaction
References
- Reference & weblink
Occupational Safety and Health Administration OHSA Inspection no. 119577575 <br />
https://www.osha.gov/pls/imis/establishment.inspection_detail?id=119577… />
(accessed November 2020)
JRC assessment
- Sources categories
- OHSA