(99a) Investigation about three fire and explosion accidents of a foaming agent production enterprises

Raw materials and products of a foaming agent are hazardous chemicals under the key supervision of the nation. Nitrosation process in its manufacturing is hazardous chemical technics under the key supervision of the nation. With regards to the three consecutive fire and explosion accidents in the pre-production stage of this enterprise within nine months, background and reasons of those accidents were under investigation. Through pertinent experimental tests on raw materials, products and manufacturing technics, hazardous properties of the substance and technics were measured. According to the combination of field investigations, theoretical derivations, experiment simulations and other methods, the accidents were recurred and the cause of the accidents were verified. By testing, major causes of the consecutive accidents were discovered and listed hereunder: unfamiliar dust explosion characteristics, blindly set temperature of drying process; lack of safety management on equipment, causing metal fragments enter the drying machine and fractional sparking; incomprehension on the characteristics of the products’ auto-reaction; illegal stacking resulting in heat accumulation. Accordingly, specific suggestions and requirements were proposed on safety management of this enterprise.

Keywords: accident investigation; risk analysis; foaming agent; hazard test