Chemical Incident Reporting – Week of 6-3-23

NOTE: See here for series background.

None of this week’s incidents are probably going to be considered CSB reportable, but they are all interesting for different reasons, so I am including them in this week’s report.

Lake Charles, LA – 6-4-23

Local news stories: Here, here, and here. Interesting video of the lightning strike.

Refinery storage tank fire, caused by lightning strike. No injuries.

Probably not a CSB reportable unless damage estimates are higher than expected.

Cambria County, PA – 6-5-23

Local news story: here.

Box-trailer rollover accident spills multiple chemicals. Chemicals reacting on roadside.

Not a CSB reportable since it is transportation incident. Interesting questions raised about transporting incompatible products in the same vehicle. This practice is not specifically prohibited by the hazardous materials regulations in the US. This might be a good incident for the NTSB to investigate to address the problem.

Three Rivers, TX 6-6-23

News story: here.

Leak of 10,000-kb of ‘volatile organic compounds’ into process cooling system.

Probably not a CSB reportable unless damage estimates are much higher than expected. This is an awful lot of product loss, even for an internal process leak, to not be detected by operators earlier.