Reactive Material Hazards

Many facilities have chemically reactive materials and systems without knowing the hazards theypose. Others are aware of the hazards, but have inadequate safeguards. Still others have situationswhere materials are adequately controlled individually, but the potential for a major incident existsif materials are inadvertently combined.
Here are five examples:
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Rainwater leaked into a room where hundreds of drums of dry swimming pool chemicalswere stored, causing an explosion. The explosion and resulting fire set off the sprinklersystem that soaked the remaining drums. The fire, explosions and chlorine releases lastedthree days. Over 25,000 people were evacuated, and 275 people went to the hospital withskin burns and respiratory problems.
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Twenty-three people were sent to the hospital after a chemical release at a resort casino.Two cleaning agents were apparently mixed together in the basement of the building,generating vapors that permeated part of the resort.
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A runaway reaction and reactor explosion occurred in a resins production facility that killedone worker and injured four others. To control the reaction rate, an operating procedurecalled for the slow addition of one of the raw materials to the reactor. The runaway wastriggered when the raw materials and catalysts were improperly charged to the reactorsimultaneously, followed by heat addition.
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A massive explosion and fire occurred at an agricultural chemical packaging facility inArkansas, killing three firefighters and injuring a fourth. The likely cause was a supersackof azinphos-methyl (an insecticide) being placed near a hot compressor exhaust pipe.
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Five workers were killed when a blender exploded. The blender was used to mix several drypowders, including aluminum powder and sodium hydrosulfite. The likely cause of theexplosion was the unintentional introduction of water into the blender, possibly through aleaking water-cooled seal.

Thus, do not ignore reactive material hazards.