【Accident Case Analysis】010 Consequences of Inappropriate Emergency Measures
Thread Content
On September 17, a coiled tube in a heat transfer oil furnace of a certain company burst, causing the heat transfer oil to leak into the furnace and trigger a fire. Upon discovering this, the staff immediately shut down the grate, heat transfer oil pump, blower, and exhaust fan, and opened a furnace door. Immediately, thick smoke filled the boiler room, and flames spilled out of the furnace doors. Immediate action was taken to put out the fire, and the situation was reported to the supervisors along with 119 being called. Fire trucks arrived within a few minutes; they cut off the power supply to the boiler room, extinguished the fire, and transferred the heat transfer oil from the upper tank to the lower tank. Subsequently, 10 fire trucks and foam trucks arrived one after another, but the situation did not improve; although there was no open flame, the thick smoke continued to increase. Later, the employees suggested turning on the exhaust fans to blow the thick smoke out, but the fire department refused to allow this and prohibited entry. It was later suggested to use steel pipes inserted through the observation window at the front of the boiler, as well as through the furnace doors on both sides; fire hoses were then directed at these pipes to spray water, which was sent into the furnace via the pipes to extinguish the fire. The method proved very effective – the open flames in the furnace and the coal layers were extinguished in less than half an hour, and the heavy smoke also disappeared. Throughout the entire process, shutting down the exhaust fan and opening a furnace door at the beginning was an improper emergency measure. This caused thick smoke and flames to emerge, rendering the boiler room inaccessible.
The safety responsibilities of chemical industry workers: keep learning and constantly improving
But why not turn on the induced draft fan at the initial stage? The oil pipe broke, and the heat transfer oil leaked; it was correct to shut down the furnace urgently. Why was the furnace door opened?
This post was last edited by zdl1966 on 2016-10-6 at 18:51. This is an example of improper emergency measures taken by the boiler operator. The blower, grate, and oil pump should be stopped; at the same time, the inlet and outlet valves of the oil pump should be closed, and the valve that allows oil to flow from the high-level tank to the low-level tank should be opened. Then, the coal in the hopper should be removed, and the grate should be set to its fastest speed.
I also have a heat transfer oil boiler here; I’d like to learn about it*