Accident Profile

Title
Flared ethylene

Date/Time of Major Occurrence

Start Date 17-06-2018 End Date 17-06-2018

Accident Type Reported under Seveso II Status

Major Accident EU Seveso III Directive Upper tier

Industrial Activity
Petrochemical / Oil Refineries

Reasons for Reporting

Substances involved: greater than 5% of quantity in Column 3 of Annex I

Injury to persons: >= 1 fatalities, >= 6 hospitalizing injuries etc.

Immediate damage to the environment (according to Annex VI)

Damage to property: on-site >2M €, off-site > 0.5M €

Cross-border damage: transboundary accidents

Interesting for lessons learned.

Accident Report
Accident description

At around 6.30 a.m., at a Seveso upper-tier petrochemical site, the failure of a depressurisation valve in the
polyethylene unit resulted in the flaring of 15 t of ethylene.

Accident involving
Domino effects Natech events Transboundary effects Contractors

Release

Major Occurences
gas/vapour/mist/etc release to air

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Site and installation
Site description

Petrochemical plant.

Installation/Unit description

Polyethylene unit.

Process

Major occurrences Equipment Type

chemical continuous reaction

Initiating Events Equipment Type

Substances
Substances Involved

Ethylene

Substances Classification
P2. FLAMMABLE GASES cat. 1 or 2

Substances detail
Quantities (t.)
Substance CAS Number
Involved Potential
Ethylene 74-85-1 15.00000

Causes

Failure of a depressurisation valve.

Plant/Equipment

Causative Factor Type

component/machinery failure/malfunction none

Consequences

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 Failure of a depressurisation valve.

Emergency Response

The shutdown procedures were applied for 5 hours. The operator monitored the sound and visual impacts.

Emergency Response Quantity Quantity/Effect

On-site systems
Off-site external services
Sheltering
Evacuation
Other

Remedial Measure Quantity Quantity/Effect

Decontamination
Restoration
Other

Lessons Learned
Theme of the Lessons Learned

Emergency Response

Lessons Learned

Operator rises up the frequency of checking about this equipment.

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