• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
• /
• v.38 no.3
• /
• pp.43-50
• /
• 2023

Silicone tetrachloride (SiCl₄) leak accidents cause enormous human and environmental damage because it is highly toxic. Some handling facilities use water curtains to reduce the impact range of SiCl₄. Although the water curtain is known as one of the most efficient technologies for post-release mitigation, its effect on reducing SiCl₄ concentration needs to be investigated scientifically and quantitatively. In this study, three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to investigate the physical and chemical effects of water curtains as a release-mitigation system for SiCl₄. SiCl₄ is released and dispersed five seconds prior to the operation of the water curtain. Once the water curtain works, the SiCl₄ reacts chemically with the water and its concentration decreases rapidly; it reaches an emergency response planning guidelines level 2 (ERPG-2) of 5 parts per million (ppm) at about 570 m. We observed, however, that the physical effect of water curtains on reducing SiCl₄ concentration is insignificant when the chemical effect is eliminated. These results are crucial since they can be a scientific and quantitative basis for the 'technical guidelines for estimating the accident affected range'. In order to protect the public from chemical accidents, more toxic gas mitigation technologies need to be developed.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
• /
• v.5 no.2 s.14
• /
• pp.36-42
• /
• 2001

A leak of fuel gas in partially confined area creates a flammable atmosphere and give rise to an explosion, which is one of the most common accident in domestic. Observations from accident in domestic suggest that some explosions are caused by a quantify of fuel significantly less than lower explosion limit(LEL) amount required to fill the room, which is attributed to inhomogeneous mixing of leaked gas. The minimum amount of leaked gas for explosion is highly dependent on the mixing degree in the area. For lighter gas, such as methane, a high concentration tends to build up in the space from ceiling of room. But heavy gas, such as propane, a high concentration tends to build up in the space from bottom of room. This paper presents a method for analysing the explosion hazard in a room with very small amount of leaked gas. Based on explosion limit concentration, the gaussian distribution model is used to estimate the minimum amount of leak which yields a specified explosion pressure. The results demonstrate that catastrophic structural damage can be achieved with a volume of fuel gas which is less than 0.5 percent of the total enclosed volume in domestic. The method will help analyzing hazard to develop new safe device as well as investigating accident.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
• /
• v.15 no.6
• /
• pp.44-50
• /
• 2011

This study is to investigate the role of the private institution which has the essential resources to solve an urgent problem for the decreasing and prevention of the industrial accident and to suggest the reinforcing model of reliability, expertise, competency of private institution. And the result of this study will be judged to present a milestone to establish a role essentially for preventing industrial accident among government agencies, public institutions and private institutions. It will also help the vitalization of an industrial safety and health market and can be utilized for the revision of Industrial Safety and Health Law and a state affairs plan.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
• /
• v.14 no.5
• /
• pp.38-44
• /
• 2010

This treatise analyzed the risk of propylene transported by railroad through quantitative analysis. As a result of survey on propylene transportation route, Iksan station, Suncheon station and Jeonju station were selected as object regions those were expected to have high accident risks. This treatise deduced the scenario of accident and the occurrence rate in accordance with the type of accident possibly to be happening during propylene transportation through ETA( Event Tree Analysis), and expressed the level of personal, social risks after calculating the level of demage influencing over surroundings based on the evaluation for the expected accident damage through PHAST 6.53.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.90-98
• /
• 1998

In order to establish detailed plans for fire protection and reduce the possible fire accidents in the future, collection of domestic and foreign fire accident cases and fundamental analysis are very important. In this study the classification model for fire accidents was developed and the direction to a new model was suggested by comparison ours with the accidents classification model of NFPA of United States of America and Japan. A new developed PC-based database program for fire accidents (FADBS) was used to analyse fire accidents easily and efficiently.

• New & Renewable Energy
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.22-33
• /
• 2023

The number of fire and explosion accidents caused by pyrolysis oil and gas at waste plastic pyrolysis plants is increasing, but accident status and safety conditions have not been clearly identified. Therefore, the aim of the study was to identify the risks of the waste plastic pyrolysis process and suggest appropriate safety management measures. We collected information on 19 cases of fire and explosion accidents that occurred between 2010 and 2021 at 26 waste plastic pyrolysis plants using the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA) database and media reports. The mechanical, managerial, personnel-related, and environmental problems within a plant and problems related to government agencies and the design, manufacturing, and installation companies involved with pyrolysis equipment were analyzed using the 4Ms of Machines, Management, Man, and Media, as well as the System-Theoretic Accident Model and Processes (STAMP) methodology for seven accident cases with accident investigation reports. Study findings indicate the need for establishing legal and institutional support measures for waste plastic pyrolysis plants in order to prevent fire and explosion accidents in the pyrolysis process. In addition, ensuring safety from the design and manufacturing stages of facilities is essential, as are measures that ensure systematic operations after the installation of safety devices.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Industrial Safety Conference
• /
• 1998.05a
• /
• pp.277-284
• /
• 1998

LPG refueling include a lot of risk done by human beings, dealing with highly combustible gas, so, during the refueling, the leakage initiated by human errors can result in a catastrophic accident. Therefore, this research tried to show what kind of tasks would include the high probability of the human errors and what should be considered for effective safety management in the LPG refueling. At first, 4 typical cases were taken through surveying various accident cases, and then a prototype of the refueling task was presented. And each task was analysed by FTA and ETA. The results showed that overpressure occupies 64.64% of the major reasons for gas leakage, and its probability was approximately 6.62E-06. Among the tasks, gas leakage resulted from mal-assembly of lorry hoses had the highest rate, and human errors related to opening and closing valves of pipe lines were most frequent. Also, the effects of confirming tasks were analyzed quantitatively.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
• /
• v.9 no.3
• /
• pp.21-27
• /
• 2007

This paper analyses the effect of parameters on the consequences of the unconfined vapor cloud explosion accident (UVCE) by the release of heavy gas (xylene vapor). Simulation results showed that the overpresure was increased with the increase of the release hole diameter and with the decrease of the interested distance and the wind speed. While, the overpresure was not nearly affected by the release height, weather and environmental conditions. From the results of the consequence analysis and analysis of affecting the consequences of UVCE, the emergency plan should be established taking into account these parameters.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
• /
• v.33 no.3
• /
• pp.33-38
• /
• 2018

Defects in piping caused by corrosion or external impact of underground piping can lead to high risk of rupture of the piping due to high pressure. Flammable gas can be immediately ignited when discharged from piping, causing a jetfire. The damage of the radiant heat not only threatens the health of the workers who work in the industry but also the health of the people living in the neighboring residential areas. It is important to prevent and prepare before an accident occurs. In this study, three types of flammable gas underground piping accident scenarios were investigated, and the ranges of influence were determined using Phast ver7.2. and finally regression models were formulated to predict the ranges using excel and Matlab.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.56 no.6
• /
• pp.811-818
• /
• 2018

A fire and explosion accident caused by a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) welding and cutting torch gas leak occurred 10 m underground at the site of reinforcement work for bridge columns, killing four people and seriously injuring ten. We conducted a comprehensive investigation into the accident to identify the fundamental causes of the explosion by analyzing the structure of the construction site and the properties of propane, which was the main component of LPG welding and cutting work used at the site. The range between the lower and upper explosion limits of leaking LPG for welding and cutting work was examined using Le Chatelier's formula; the behavior of LPG concentration change, which included dispersion and concentration change, was analyzed using the fire dynamic simulator (FDS). We concluded that the primary cause of the accident was combustible LPG that leaked from a welding and cutting torch and formed a explosion range between the lower and upper limits. When the LPG contacted the flame of the welding and cutting torch, LPG explosion occurred. The LPG explosion power calculation was verified by the blast effect computation program developed by the Department of Defense Explosive Safety Board (DDESB). According to the fire simulation results, we concluded that the welding and cutting torch LPG leak caused the gas explosion. This study is useful for safety management to prevent accidents caused by LPG welding and cutting work at construction sites.