Hot Work: Hidden Hazards

CSB Safety Video detailing a 2010 hot work accident at DuPont Buffalo

[performa]

For a company with an "excellent safety record" DuPont sure does show up in a lot of these videos...

[dabe]

Attn welders: always carry a flammable gas monitor, even if you need to buy one yourself. Your life may depend on it.

[OAleathaO]

Just remember that while the CSB does great investigative work into workplace accidents and makes great recommendations for change, that's all it can do: _make recommendations_. They can't mandate that any company or industry change anything. In that way they are like the NTSB. Many times the NTSB has to stand by like the CSB does and watch future accidents happen which would have been avoided had their recommendations been acted upon.

[povmcdov]

These really are excellent videos. I don't work in the chemical industry, and I'm in Europe not the US, but I do work in a safety critical environment, and your channel is very thought provoking.

[screaming_cat]

I’m getting into welding and my morbid curiosity led me to this channel a while back, this showed up and I knew that I should listen up and learn because it’s the most trustworthy agency with easy to understand analysis

[LanceCampeau]

I have watched every CSB video. Very well produced & useful

[AndyGreenT]

US CSB are a fantastic source of training materials - thanks for all your efforts to share key lessons.

[geoffreypiltz]

As a motorcyclist who has modified bikes, I can say that everyone I knew was fully aware of the potential hazards of welding a small thing like a motorcycle fuel tank. Any welder who works on a storage tank, however small or large, should satisfy THEMSELVES that the atmosphere is safe before they start work.

[seanb]

It's important to realize that had these workers not been injured in an explosion they would have still been exposed to a powerful carcinogen.
The responsibility to check for explosive atmosphere was certainly present however the concern for not exposing workers to vinyl fluoride
should have taken absolutely top spot. In the process of preventing worker contamination they probably would have spotted the explosive hazard.

[coreyandnathanielchartier]

Back in 1979 in Okinawa on a Marine base, I saw two welders working inside an underground jet fuel tank that had been empty for many years. There was a vapor explosion in the tank, luckily, it was a low-grade explosion, for they lived through it. Heating that metal leached chemicals out and built up an explosive atmosphere. Dry tanks can be more dangerous than full tanks. I'm surprised they don't require positive ventilation before and during this type of work, or filling with inert gas or water.

[arbitterm]

Fines basically means "legal for the rich". We've leagalized total disregard for employee safety as long as decision making managers are safe from jail time.

[ghost-facedhindu]

My shop always said, "vent the gas in the tank, or you might as well be cutting or grinding into a bomb."

[tommunn]

I have never trusted someone else's flammable gas detector, only my own. Plus, things can affect the readings of a detector, and each one is different. If you have a flammable liquid and flush the air-gas mixture it can go back to a danger level in a few minutes if there is unseen liquid in tiny crevices that you don't see. Also, you carry your own padlocks to close and lock off any valves or electrical contactors and breakers. Recently, a worker went into a sausage grinder at a plant and did not lock off the contactor and switch and someone came and turned on the machine while the man was inside. Horrible! Then another man was locked inside a tuna oven after going inside for a repair because he did not lock off the oven and the electrically operated doors. He died a horrible death being cooked alive! My teachers always emphasized to either LOCK IT OFF or don't work on the unit. I've had people try to turn machinery on several times while I was inside until I just left the job undone and quit the particular job because this idiot would not keep his hands off the electrical switches and was trying to run it while I was working on it. People will kill you if you leave any way for them to do it!

[asvarien]

You know your plant uses / produces flammable gases / vapours, you know someone is going to be cutting / welding a tank... how much of a stretch is it to test the tank before allowing the work to happen?!

[Impedancenetwork]

These videos are fascinating. I worked in many oil and gas facilities and know all too well how these things happen.

[eTrainToday]

This video does a great job of illustrating the dangers of hot work. Very nicely done.

[NRC]

That's why I spade off any valves/pipes myself, before entering a vesel as I don't trust operators or plant equipment. Your safety is in your own hands.

[PuffleFuzz]

This was chilling. This is even more chilling when I realized it happened locally. I live in Lockport and I learned about this case in 2014. My dad got a job here in 2017. I personally think that Dupont needed to learn communication skills, and should've rechecked the tanks the day of the repairs. At least I would've done that, and I'm usually never responsible about anything.

[WendysCove]

Pls know, that I deeply appreciate all yr kindness at uploading these videos.

[Stefan]

This reminds me of a fatal incident at the BASF plant 20 years ago, when two workers have been killed. They carried out welding work on a tank which contained methanol and formaldehyde.