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Clean Hydrogen Partnership

Roll-over of a CGH2 trailer

Event

Event ID
755
Quality
Description

A minor fire broke out following a gas leak from hydrogen cylinders. A truck was returning to the base company after offloading hydrogen cylinders at a factory. The driver lost control and crashed against a pillar on a bridge over a river and overturned. Police brought a crane from to right the vehicle but as the lift started, the truck rolled backwards, the crane's wire rope snapped, damaging the valves on several cylinders and leaking hydrogen then caught fire. Fire and Rescue Service Personnel took more than an hour to extinguish the fire. The road was blocked for about six hours.

Event Initiating system
Classification of the physical effects
Hydrogen Release and Ignition
Nature of the consequences
fire
Macro-region
Asia
Country
India
Date
Component involved
valve (generic)
Failure mode
rupture & ignition
Initiating cause
impact, rollover, crash
Root CAUSE analysis

The INITIATING CAUSE was the loss of control of the vehicle by the driver.
The ROOT CAUSE was a human error causing the roll-over, and probably additional errors during rescue operations.

Root causes
Date entry in HIAD
01/01/2020

Facility

Application
Hydrogen transport and distribution
Sub-application
CGH2 tube trailer
Hydrogen supply chain stage
All components affected

hydrogen cylinders

Process temperature range [C]
ambient temperature (-50°C to +50°C)
Process pressure range [MPa]
medium to high pressure (10 to 50 MPa)
Location type
Unknown
Location
highway or similar
Operational condition
Description of the facility/unit/process/substances

DESCRIPTION OF THE ROUTE
A truck was returning to Nagapattinam after offloading hydrogen cylinders at a factory in Ranipet in Vellore (360 km) and the driver lost control and crashed against a pillar on a bridge over Gadilam river and overturned.

Emergency & Consequences

Number of fatalities
0
Number of injured persons
1
Post-event summary

Police brought a crane from SIPCOT to right the vehicle but as the lift started, the truck rolled backwards, the crane's wire rope snapped, damaging the valves on several cylinders and leaking hydrogen then caught fire. Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Service Personnel took more than an hour to extinguish the fire. The road was blocked for about six hours.

Emergency action

Police brought a crane from SIPCOT to right the vehicle but as the lift started, the truck rolled backwards, the crane's wire rope snapped, damaging the valves on several cylinders and leaking hydrogen then caught fire. Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Service Personnel took more than an hour to extinguish the fire. The road was blocked for about six hours.

Lesson Learnt

Lesson Learnt

Truck drivers delivering hydrogen cylinders should take extra care about safety and drive more carefully.

In-depth data

Release type
gas
Involved substances (% vol)
H2 100%
Release temperature [°C]
25
Probable IGNITION SOURCE

References

Sources categories
Unknown
Reference & weblink

Original source lost