Tank Incident 10: Fire during maintenance of an internal floating roof tank results in casualties among workers

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Incident account of casualties caused by a fire during the maintenance of an internal floating roof tank: On June 3, 1988, a serious accident resulting in casualties occurred during the maintenance of a naphtha tank in the oil products workshop of Tianjin Petrochemical Company’s refinery. At 15:20 on that day, while the Comprehensive Enterprise Company affiliated to the Fourth Construction Company was carrying out maintenance work on Tank No. 701, a capacity of 5,000 cubic meters, containing naphtha, a local fire broke out inside the tank during the work. This was due to the presence of naphtha in the soft-sealing foam plastic inside the tank, as well as other flammable materials such as acetylene gas used in the construction process, oil-soaked sleepers, and the oil-resistant rubber used for the soft-sealing layer. 6 construction workers working inside the tank died from lack of oxygen and suffocation. Lessons learned from the accident and measures taken: a) There was no experience in maintaining internal floating roof tanks; inspections were not thorough before the work began, failing to create a suitable working environment and thus leaving potential safety hazards for the maintenance operations. b. The safety production rules and regulations are inadequate, and their enforcement is lax. There is a lack of coordination among the mechanical, safety, and workshop departments. Welding permits were issued without establishing written safety procedures for construction work or obtaining approval for tank entry operations, and welding was carried out blindly without specifying the exact location where welding would take place. c. Management of outsourced construction and maintenance teams should be strengthened; strict scrutiny must be applied to the qualification of these contracting teams, as well as to their composition and technical capabilities, in order to avoid any potential risks.