deadly buckets - RE: EM Weekly Report for 10/20/00

["Franta, Jaroslav" <frantaj@aecl.ca>]

Susan Gawarecki [mailto:loc@icx.net] wrote on Monday October 30, 2000 9:45
AM

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT WEEKLY REPORT
October 20, 2000
<SNIP>
Accident Investigation Team Briefed Portsmouth on October 11, on
Chemical Accident:  An accident occurred at the Portsmouth Gaseous
Diffusion Plant on August 22, when an employee of IT Corporation
received serious burns from a violent chemical reaction.   The employee
has since been released from the hospital but is undergoing additional
medical treatment and physical therapy.  The direct cause of the
accident was the introduction of crystalline sodium thiosulfate into a
five-gallon bucket containing concentrated sodium permanganate solution.
This caused a violent chemical reaction and the employee was sprayed
with sodium permanganate which immediately ignited and severely burned
the employee.  The Type B Accident Investigation Board identified four
root causes for the accident.  The root causes centered around the
failure of UT-Battelle, Bechtel Jacobs Company, and IT management to: 
(1) analyze the hazards of all field activities; (2) implement the
hazard controls and requirements; (3) establish clear roles and
responsibilities for the planning, execution, and oversight of the
project; and, (4) establish or ensure a safety culture that implements
integrated safety management.
Media Interest:  Local
Program Contact:  Autar Rampertaap, 301-903-8191
<SNIP>
<><><><><><><><><><>

COMMENT: shades of the Tokaimura criticality accident in Japan last year --
but of no interest to the media I suppose, since it wasn't nuclear. "Violent
chemical reaction" simply cannot compete with "violent nuclear reaction," no
matter how many are killed or injured.....

Radio Prague (Vysilani do zahranici CRo)
News 23.10.2000
Rescuers remove bodies from quicklime silo 

Rescue workers have removed the bodies of two men from a quicklime silo on
the outskirts of Prague. The two men are believed to have been working in
the silo on Wednesday when they were apparently buried under several tonnes
of quicklime. Rescue workers began looking for the men in the silo on
Friday, after their colleagues noticed their disappearance. The cause of the
accident is not yet known.
<><><><><>

Jaro
frantaj@aecl.ca
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