According to incomplete statistics, there were at least 71 accidents in the chemical industry during 2021–2022, resulting in 89 deaths and 249 injuries

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The chemical industry has long been associated with issues such as high pollution, high energy consumption, and high risks. Accidents occur frequently, resulting not only in substantial economic losses but also causing distress to those who are injured or killed, their families, the companies involved, and the entire industry as a whole. This is something that every person working in the chemical industry must take seriously. According to incomplete statistics, there were at least 71 accidents in the chemical industry during 2021–2022, resulting in 89 deaths and 249 injuries – a warning that every person working in the chemical industry should take to heart. On May 22, a diesel pipeline at Dongying Haikelerlin Chemical Co., Ltd., located in the industrial park of the Dongying Port Economic Development Zone, caught fire, with flames rising high at the scene. The situation was handled on-site by departments such as emergency services, fire departments, public security agencies, and traffic police. At around 4:50, the fire at the scene was extinguished, with no casualties reported. On May 21, an accident occurred at a wastewater storage tank at Ningxia Grei Fine Chemicals, a subsidiary of Shandong Weifang Runfeng Chemical Holdings, during the maintenance of its breathing valve; this accident resulted in the death of two construction workers who were contractors working for the company. On May 12, according to foreign media reports, an explosion occurred at a chemical plant in the town of Kocevje in southern Slovenia, resulting in 6 deaths and 20 injuries. On April 24, a hydrogen leak and fire occurred in the compressor area of the continuous reforming unit at Shengli Refinery of Qilu Branch, resulting in the emergency shutdown of both the continuous reforming unit and the hydrocracking unit. On April 21, a fire broke out at the Dmitrievsky chemical plant in Ivanovo Oblast, Russia; 143 workers were evacuated urgently, and subsequently 62 firefighters and 24 fire trucks were deployed to extinguish the fire. On April 13, a chemical plant in Andhra Pradesh, in southern India, caught fire, resulting in at least 6 deaths and 12 injuries. On April 11, an explosion occurred at a chemical plant in the Baruch district of Gujarat state, India, killing 6 workers. On March 21, an ammonia leak occurred at the Sumy Chemical Plant in Sumy Oblast, Ukraine, affecting an area within a radius of 5 kilometers around the plant. On March 19, a sudden explosion occurred at Siming Chemical Co., Ltd. in Ningbo, Zhejiang, instantly filling the sky with thick smoke and darkness, with debris flying everywhere. On March 10, a major fire broke out on the 6th floor of Building 1 at Yongguang Chemical’s Plant 3, located in the Guanyin Industrial Zone in Taoyuan City, Taiwan Province. Chemical dust filled the area, and the 6-story reinforced concrete building was engulfed in flames. On February 21, a violent explosion occurred at the Marathon Petroleum Corp. facility in Garyville, located between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. The fire injured 5 employees, four of whom were treated on the scene while one was taken to a hospital. On February 22, three maintenance workers from Shaanxi Shuangyi Coal Chemical Technology Industry Co., Ltd. suffered a flash explosion while carrying out maintenance and welding work on the Venturi tower of the newly built No. 6 semi-coke furnace (which was not in use), resulting in 3 deaths. On February 11, an explosion occurred at the third plant of Lichuan NCC, a petrochemical raw material manufacturer located in the **Industrial Park in Li River, South Jeolla Province, South Korea, resulting in 4 deaths and 4 injuries. On February 2, a fire broke out at a fertilizer factory in North Carolina, United States, which stored 600 tons of highly explosive phosgene. When the fire got out of control, firefighters were forced to evacuate the scene. On January 26, an explosion occurred at a chemical plant in southwestern Louisiana, USA, injuring at least 6 people. On January 5, a fire broke out at Henan Yutian Chemical Co., Ltd., resulting in 3 deaths; the direct economic loss was initially estimated at around 3.5 million yuan. Around noon on December 28, 2021, a fire broke out at a chemical plant under construction in Dongzhou District, Fushun City, Liaoning Province. On December 23, a fire broke out at ExxonMobil’s (XOM.US) complex in Bay City, Texas, injuring 4 people. This complex facility is one of the largest oil refining and petrochemical facilities in the United States. On December 13, a fire broke out at the residue hydrogenation unit of Yunnan Petrochemical; the incident resulted in 4 people suffering minor injuries, all of whom were taken to the hospital for treatment. On December 13, an explosion and fire broke out at a chemical plant in the **Industrial Park in Lisu, South Jeolla Province, South Korea, resulting in 3 deaths. On November 27, a leak and fire occurred on the desulfurization agent removal line of the fourth-floor platform in the regenerative system framework of the catalytic gasoline adsorption desulfurization unit (also known as the S-Zorb unit) at Sinopec Guangzhou Branch. The accident caused no casualties, with direct economic losses amounting to 248,000 yuan. On October 26, an explosion occurred at Shandong Dingding Chemical Technology Co., Ltd., located in the Economic Development Zone of Gaoqing County, Zibo City, resulting in 1 person injured and direct losses of around 3.42 million yuan. On October 22, an explosion occurred at a chemical plant in the High-Tech Industrial Development Zone of Alxa League, resulting in 4 deaths and 3 injuries so far. On October 18, a fire broke out at a refinery in Ahmadi, southern Kuwait; no casualties have been reported so far as a result of the incident. On October 14, an accident occurred due to the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide in the purification tower of the hydrogen peroxide production facility at Jiangsu Fuqiang New Materials Co., Ltd. within the Huai’an Industrial Park; one person was injured and has been taken to the hospital for treatment. On October 12, a chemical vapor leak occurred at a factory in the Thane district of Maharashtra state, India, resulting in at least 34 people being taken to hospitals. On October 5, an explosion took place in the ethyl chloride production unit of Jin Runsong Biotechnology Co., Ltd. in Huinong District, Shizuishan City, Ningxia; 23 fire trucks and nearly a hundred firefighters were sent to the scene to carry out rescue efforts. On September 16, a fire broke out in the warehouse of Jihong Coatings Ltd., located in the Tangxi Industrial Zone of Hetang Town, Pengjiang District, Jiangmen City. The fire spread to the water-based production workshop of Jiadelai Chemicals located in the vicinity. On August 14, Quanzhou Ouchang Resin Chemical Co., Ltd. experienced an asphyxiation accident during the cleaning of a reactor, resulting in 2 deaths. On July 28, a liquid ammonia leak occurred in Unit C of the urea production facility at the Urea Plant of Yunnan Dawa Ammonia Production Co., Ltd., a subsidiary controlled by Yuntianhua Company. During the evacuation, 2 staff members suffered ammonia poisoning. One person died despite efforts to save them at the hospital, while another suffered mild poisoning and is being treated in the hospital with no life-threatening conditions. On July 28, an acetic acid leak occurred at a chemical plant on the outskirts of Houston, Texas, USA, resulting in at least 2 deaths and 4 people suffering burns. On July 22, an explosion and fire broke out in reactor R1202 of Workshop A at Guangdong Zhongzhun New Materials Technology Co., Ltd., located in the High-Tech Zone of Maoming City. Although no casualties were reported, the incident caused the reactor to collapse, and the shock waves from the explosion severely damaged Workshop A as well as other reaction equipment, pipelines, and building frameworks within it. On July 5, a severe explosion and fire broke out at the Taiwanese-owned Mindi Chemicals Company in North Lampang Province, near Bangkok, the capital of Thailand; this incident has resulted in 1 death and 29 injuries. On July 4, an explosion occurred in a reaction vessel at Guangdong Yike Chemical Co., Ltd., located in Qingyuan Overseas Chinese Industrial Park in Donghua Town, Yingde City, Qingyuan, resulting in 1 death and 4 injuries. The buildings and equipment on site were severely damaged. On July 3, a hydrogen sulfide poisoning and asphyxiation incident occurred at Zhejiang Majiko New Materials Co., Ltd. in Haining City, Jiaxing. The incident resulted in 3 deaths and 2 injuries. On June 25, a fire broke out at Warehouse No. 3 for finished products in Ruifeng High-Performance Materials’ 30,000-ton ACR plant located in the Yiyuan County Economic Development Zone. On June 14, an explosion occurred at a chemical plant in the Rockton area of Illinois, USA, with thick smoke filling the area. On June 8, a fire broke out in the finished product packaging workshop for 997 siloxane at the 200,000-ton-per-year sealant production facility of Hexing Silicon Industry in western Xinjiang. On May 31, a fire broke out at Dingrui Petrochemical Co., Ltd., located in the Dongxing Industrial Zone of Nandagang Industrial Park in the Bohai New Area of Cangzhou City. The direct economic loss amounted to 38.721 million yuan, and no casualties were reported. On May 29, an explosion and fire occurred in the No. 7 cracking furnace area of Unit 2 of the olefin complex (old plant) at the Olefins Department of Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co., Ltd., resulting in 1 death, 5 severe injuries, and 8 minor injuries. On May 26, a leakage accident occurred at Jiangsu Chunjiang Runtian Agrochemical Co., Ltd., which led to a fire; no injuries were reported. On May 23, an explosion occurred at a chemical plant in Shahin Shahr, Isfahan Province in central Iran, injuring 9 people. On May 11, an explosion occurred early in the morning at a chemical plant in Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, injuring at least 4 people to varying degrees and releasing a pungent odor. On May 6, an explosion occurred in the production facility of Ningbo Keyuan Refining Co., Ltd. The fire has now been brought under control, with no casualties reported at the scene. The cause of the incident is under investigation. On April 24, a flash explosion occurred at the outlet of the second stage of the inter-cooler in the raw material gas section of the purification workshop at Shengshi Fuyuan Methanol Manufacturing Co., Ltd. in Xiaoyi City, Lüliang City, Shanxi Province. This area is remotely controlled and unattended, and no injuries were reported. On April 21, a poisoning and asphyxiation incident occurred at Heilongjiang Kailunda Technology Co., Ltd. in Anda City, Suihua, resulting in 4 deaths and 9 people suffering from poisoning or injuries. On April 17, an explosion occurred in a workshop at Xingan Chemical Factory in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province. Preliminary investigations show that 2 people lost their lives in the accident, and 3 are missing. On April 9, an explosion and fire broke out at the aromatic chemicals plant of Nanjing Yangzi Petrochemical Co., Ltd. Upon arrival, firefighters extinguished the flames on site; there were no casualties. On April 8, an explosion and fire broke out at a paint factory in Columbus, Ohio, United States, resulting in 1 death and 8 injuries. On April 7, a flash explosion occurred at the captive thermal power plant of Anhui Huasu Co., Ltd. in Lüqiao Town, Dingyuan County, Chuzhou City, resulting in 6 deaths. On March 31, during a shutdown and renovation process at Henan Yurui Chemical Technology Co., Ltd., located in the Huling Industrial Cluster Area of the Jiyuan Demonstration Zone in Henan Province, an incident occurred in which workers were poisoned by a mixture of hydrogen chloride and chlorine gases. The accident resulted in 2 deaths and 11 injuries. On March 29, a fire broke out at Yankuang Lunan Chemical Company in Tengzhou, Shandong, with thick smoke filling the area; local firefighters arrived to handle the situation. On March 29, an oil refinery in Indonesia exploded and caught fire, with thick smoke billowing and flames shooting high into the sky. On March 20, an explosion occurred at a chemical plant in Maharashtra, India, resulting in at least 5 deaths and many injuries. On March 15, an explosion and subsequent fire occurred at the cis-polybutadiene rubber plant in the chemical division of Maoming Branch of Sinopec Corporation, located in the High-Tech Zone of Maoming City. The incident resulted in one death and five injuries. On March 5, a fire broke out in the anti-sulfiding rejuvenator production workshop of Jiangxi Hongbai New Materials Co., Ltd. during trial production. The incident resulted in one death; no environmental pollution or secondary disasters occurred. On March 3, a fire broke out in the northern part of the BASF Ludwigshafen plant, resulting in leaks of carbon monoxide, hydrogen, oxygen-containing gases, and methyldiethanolamine. On March 3, an explosion and fire occurred in the material transfer pump located in the same workshop as that used for methyl ethyl peroxide at Building A3 of Yingde Qiangliu Chemical Co., Ltd. The area affected by the fire was approximately 300 square meters; the incident resulted in 1 death and 2 injuries. On February 27, a serious poisoning incident occurred at Jilin Chemical Fiber Co., Ltd., resulting in 5 deaths and 8 injuries. On February 26, during the resumption of operations at Hubei Xianlong Chemical Co., Ltd., an explosion occurred due to the illegal production of methyl sulfide, resulting in 4 deaths and 4 injuries. On February 23, an explosion occurred in the pipelines of the methanol synthesis unit outside Guyu Coal and Coke Chemical Co., Ltd., Hebei Tianzhu Iron and Steel Group, located in the Economic Development Zone of Yutian County, Tangshan City, Hebei Province, resulting in the death of 2 personnel who were conducting inspections on site. On February 23, a major fire and explosion occurred at a chemical plant in Broach, Gujarat, India, resulting in 2 deaths, 5 people missing, and 23 injuries. On February 18, a compound pipeline at the chemical plant of Japanese company Boride Plastics in Kuantan, Pahang State, Malaysia, caught fire; the blaze was extinguished at 7:20 a.m. (Malaysian time). On January 25, a fire broke out at the Ufaorgsintez refinery in Ufa, Russia, resulting in 1 death and 1 injury. On January 21, a hydrogen sulfide leak occurred at a chemical plant in Muhad, Maharashtra, India, resulting in at least 7 workers being hospitalized due to poisoning. On January 17, a fire broke out at a chemical plant named Brothers Laboratory in Maharashtra, India. On January 16, a fire broke out at the Orion chemical plant in the Edayar Industrial Area of Ernakulam, Kerala, India. On January 16, a fire broke out at Hongshun Plastic Products Factory, located on He Shi Road No. 6, Hekeng Village, Qiaotou Town, Dongguan City, Guangdong Province; no injuries were reported. On January 14, Henan Shunda New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., located in the Zhumadian High-Tech Industrial Development Zone, suffered an asphyxiation accident while carrying out operations to remove a protective agent from Tank No. 1. The accident resulted in 4 deaths and 3 injuries, with direct economic losses of around 10.1 million yuan. On January 12, an explosion occurred in the butadiene intermediate tank of the recovery unit of the styrene-butadiene plant at Nanjing Yangzi Petrochemical Rubber Co., Ltd.; fortunately, no casualties were reported as a result of the incident. On January 9, a fire broke out at a chemical plant in Karachi, a port city in southern Pakistan, injuring 8 people. ……Whether it is an explosion, a fire, a leak, or poisoning, the crises and risks they pose cannot be underestimated. Ensuring safety requires cooperation at every stage, while ruining everything can happen simply due to one loose \"screw\". Therefore, for the high-risk chemical industry, every month is Safety Month and every day is Safety Day; everyone should develop a safety consciousness, abide by rules and regulations, and avoid crossing red lines, so as to work together to ensure safety to the greatest extent possible.