Event
- Event ID
- 1092
- Quality
- Description
The incident occurred in a facility for chrome-plating metals.
At the time of the event, a metal roller was being chrome-plated. A short circuit occurred due to a defective contacting (contact rails) on the rectifier. This short circuit caused a spark to reach the surface of the electrolyte bath, and the spark ignited the hydrogen produced during chrome plating, causing an explosion.
Various windows within the company were destroyed, but nobody was injured.- Event Initiating system
- Classification of the physical effects
- Hydrogen Release and Ignition
- Nature of the consequences
- Macro-region
- Europe
- Country
- Germany
- Date
- Component involved
- reactor / oven / furnace / test chamber
- Failure mode
- rupture & ignition
- Initiating cause
- conventional component failure (electricity, power)
- Root CAUSE analysis
The INITIATING/direct cause is a defective rectifier contact which spark-ignited the hydrogen produced during the chrome plating process.
- Root causes
- Date entry in HIAD
- 01/07/2024
Facility
- Application
- Steel and metals industry
- Sub-application
- Cr metallurgy
- Hydrogen supply chain stage
- All components affected
rectifier, chrome-plating facility
- Process temperature range [C]
- ambient temperature (-50°C to +50°C)
- Location type
- Confined
- Location
- populated area
- Operational condition
Emergency & Consequences
- Number of fatalities
- 0
- Number of injured persons
- 0
- Currency
- Euro
- Property loss (onsite)
- 500
- Post-event summary
Various windows within the company were destroyed. The rectifier had to be repaired and tested.
- Emergency action
The rectifier was switched off.
A call from the neighbourhood to the police was forwarded to the fire department, which was on site within 10 minutes. After the situation was clarified, the emergency services moved away again.
Lesson Learnt
- Corrective Measures
Increased control of the contacts on all rectifiers in operation.
Isolation of the rectifiers using a new cover.
Use of another wetting agent (low foam).
In-depth data
- Release type
- gas
- Involved substances (% vol)
- H2 100%
- Release temperature [°C]
- 25
- Probable IGNITION SOURCE
- Explosion type
References
- Sources categories
- ZEMA
- Reference & weblink
Event from German database ZEMA
https://www.infosis.uba.de/index.php/en/binaries/asset/zema_ereignis/33…
(accessed December 2023)
