Ignoring safety is creating disasters – An investigation into the causes of the Dangyang high-pressure steam pipe explosion

Thread Content

This post was last edited by Fulei on 2019-3-10 at 21:26. Ignoring safety measures leads to disasters – An investigation into the cause of the high-pressure steam pipe explosion in Dangyang. At around 15:20 on August 11, 2016, a high-pressure steam pipe exploded at the Madian Gangshi Power Generation Co., Ltd. in Dangyang, Hubei, resulting in 22 deaths and 4 injuries. According to a report from the **General Security Inspection Administration, the main cause of the accident was a crack in the weld of the flow meter located in the main steam outlet pipeline of Boiler No. 2. This led to the leakage of large amounts of superheated steam at temperatures exceeding 500°C, which caused the glass in the control room to shatter and resulted in severe injuries among the people inside the control room. The most direct and apparent cause of such a serious disaster was the cracking of the welds on the flow meter. Upon closer analysis, it is not difficult to identify the underlying causes. 1) Engineering design issue: The flow meter that caused the explosion accident was installed on the pipeline from the boiler to the turbine. Inside the pipe is superheated steam with a temperature of over 500°C. This section of the pipeline is separated from the control room by a wall, with only double glass in between. From an engineering design perspective, at least three critical aspects have been overlooked: the safe distance between the control room and hazardous areas, the safety protection measures in the control room, and the detection and alarm systems for high-temperature steam leaks. 2) Equipment or construction quality issues: Cracking of the welds on the flowmeter is a product quality issue. Poor-quality products are the direct cause of this disaster. It is understood that on the morning of the accident and the day before, there were leaks in the steam pipes, and one worker suffered burns to their foot. The steam pipeline from this power plant to Huahua Chemical Company also leaked once this year. Insiders also revealed that \"the quality of some parts is questionable,\" and that \"the turbine equipment is below market price, being products rejected by the market.\" Before the B25 generator set was started, multiple breaks were found in the binding of the stator coils. Since early 2016, we have been testing the new equipment, and there has been a recurring issue of \"the ignition doesn’t work; it needs to be shut down for maintenance, then tried to ignite again but still doesn’t work, so it has to be shut down for maintenance once more.\" A contractor said that pipe repairs are a common occurrence at this company; “if there’s a leak, the insulation is first removed and the pipe is welded together, after which it’s reinstalled, all while the machine continues to operate.” Poor-quality products, coupled with substandard construction, created safety \"bombs\" that led to the 8·11 accident. 3) Technical support/service quality issues: Before the explosion occurred, technicians from the equipment manufacturer made an error in the phase sequence connection of the excitation transformer during the commissioning phase, which led to a short circuit. For such a major project and such critical equipment, even a basic technical task like the wiring of the phase sequence of a transformer can go wrong, which shows just how poor the technical service quality of the equipment manufacturers is! The repeated debugging issues that occurred over the half year mentioned above also reflect to a large extent the poor level of service provided by the equipment manufacturers. 4) Lack of safety awareness among enterprises and excessive focus on short-term profits – Family members of the victims reported that on the morning of the incident, a pipe broke, resulting in a steam leak. During the maintenance, the workers suggested stopping the boiler from running, but were stopped by their supervisors. The leader said, “It’s only been running for a few days; stopping it will result in losses.” Safety requires taking precautions and planning ahead, but this company ignored the steam leaks in its pipelines; employees even suffered burns from the steam, yet they showed no concern or care, driven only by greed! 5) **Inadequate safety assessment and supervision: The project involves violations, and it has been pointed out that there are risks of fires and explosions resulting from oil tank leaks in the presence of ignition sources, as well as various hazards related to leaks in storage tanks. Moreover, there have been multiple incidents of steam pipe leaks and weld cracks that required repair. So many problems – **where are the regulatory authorities?** Have all these potential risks been completely eliminated? Who gave them the authority to lay traps everywhere and then send employees to step on them? Even after an accident occurs, the provincial safety office merely \"conducts inspections of the work being carried out in various regions; those areas or departments that fail to fulfill their safety responsibilities or carry out their tasks inadequately are subject to public criticism across the province, and the relevant local authorities and departments are summoned for discussions\" ； Those responsible for production safety accidents resulting therefrom will be held strictly accountable. ” Safety is of utmost importance. It’s a matter of life and death, yet all that happens is \"verbal criticism\" and \"conversations,\" which are meaningless and of no use at all! What is needed is the implementation of strong measures to eradicate hidden dangers and prevent accidents! “\"Those responsible for production safety accidents will be held strictly accountable,\" but severe post-incident penalties do nothing to compensate for the losses in lives and property that have occurred. What is needed is to prevent problems before they occur! 6) Employees lack a strong awareness of self-protection, and there is a lack of public opinion and oversight regarding safety in society. Article 56 of the Labor Law of the People’s Republic of China stipulates that workers have the right to refuse to carry out orders given by employers’ management that violate regulations or that force them to work in dangerous conditions; they also have the right to criticize, report, and file complaints against any actions that pose a threat to their life safety and physical health. In fact, employees worry about being fired by their employers on the grounds of \"failing to obey management and leadership,\" so they often stay silent. Especially in the face of a difficult job market and significant financial pressures at home, workers often choose to comply. This reflects the weak awareness of self-safety protection among employed people in our country, while also highlighting the weakness in social safety advocacy and oversight. When a company causes harm to its employees and society due to safety issues, or when employees are dismissed without mercy for exercising their rights related to safety, if that company is rejected by the public, abandoned by the market, and ignored by banks, then employees will naturally have the courage to exercise their legitimate rights. 7) Corporate ethics and values: A people-oriented company gives top priority to the safety of its employees; it will never risk their lives in order to avoid short-term financial losses. Companies with proper morals and values put people first; while striving for their own sustainable, healthy, and stable development, they also pay attention to social benefits. A project built with inferior equipment and poor service is bound to be a \"junk project\" full of hidden dangers! The world is already full of \"trash\"; it is necessary for **, society, and businesses to take active action to jointly combat this \"trash\"! Adhering to a people-oriented approach and safe development is not only the responsibility of enterprises but also the foundation for their long-term growth. Safety is a responsibility. Ignoring safety is creating disasters!