The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB; www.csb.gov) has deployed a four-person investigation team to El Dorado, Ark. to determine the cause of an explosion and fire that severely burned and killed three workers. The accident occurred Monday, May 21, 2012, mid-afternoon on an oil-tank site operated by Long Brothers Oil Co. on land the company leased near El Dorado, in the southernmost part of the state. Preliminary information gathered by the CSB indicates workers were conducting hot work — defined as any burning, cutting, welding or other operation that is capable of initiating fires or explosions — on one of the tanks.
CSB chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso said, “This unfortunate tragedy in Arkansas involving the deaths of three workers is the kind of hot work accident that occurs much too frequently. The CSB has investigated too many of these accidents which can be prevented by carefully monitoring for flammable vapor before and during hot work. We have released a safety bulletin and safety video on the hazards of welding or cutting around piping and tanks that have not been tested or monitored to see if they contain flammable hydrocarbons.”
The bulletin, released in February 2010, is entitled, “Seven Key Lessons to Prevent Worker Deaths During Hot Work In and Around Tanks: Effective Hazard Assessment and Use of Combustible Gas Monitoring Will Save Lives.” The video, “Hot Work: Hidden Hazards,” is available at www.csb.gov. It was released along with the final report on the DuPont Buffalo, N.Y. facility explosion and fire that occurred November 9, 2010, killing a contract worker and injuring another. The CSB determined the explosion was caused by sparks in a welding operation taking place atop a storage tank that contained flammable vinyl chloride. While the atmosphere above the tank was tested for flammable vapor, the CSB said a root cause of the accident was the failure to monitor the interior of the tank.