Actions to be taken in case of profused leak of Ammonia

[sandybapat]

The issue of Ammonia leak was being discussed with Ammonia plant operators from various industries during a training session.

The discussion was more on what is the role of plant operator in case of profuse leak of Ammonia in the plant room. What precautions he should take and how he should proceed with stopping the leak. What safety equipment he should use to ensure human safety.

Use of gas mask and whole body safety suit along with the tie rope was suggested so that the person can reach the leak spot and attend.

Could you all share your experience and add valuable suggestions, dos and don'ts, etc. This will help us in more meaning full discussion in the next training session.

[RANGER1]

The issue of Ammonia leak was being discussed with Ammonia plant operators from various industries during a training session.

The discussion was more on what is the role of plant operator in case of profuse leak of Ammonia in the plant room. What precautions he should take and how he should proceed with stopping the leak. What safety equipment he should use to ensure human safety.

Use of gas mask and whole body safety suit along with the tie rope was suggested so that the person can reach the leak spot and attend.

Could you all share your experience and add valuable suggestions, dos and don'ts, etc. This will help us in more meaning full discussion in the next training session.

Intersting points, will be interesting to see comments.

Each country may have different levels of safety & procedures.

Most modern facilities will have ammonia alarm sensors & serious ventilation in plant room.
IS there any possibility of electrical switchboards in the area that can be affected?
in an up to date installation a shunt trip will isolate all electrical equipment & suitable exhaust fans will be on.
Basically need to determine size of leak.
THis will determine what action is next.
Can it be isolated or contained safely from sources away from immediate area to reduce risk.
Are there other people at risk that need to be alerted & evacuated?
They should directed across upwind of leak.

Cannister mask not always the best, as if overcome by ammonia you are in trouble.

If using a fully encapsulated suit a self contained breathing apparatus should be used.
It should only be used with other trained people around, as if you get into trouble, then what!
Water should be on hand or safety shower for possible emergency.
A tarpaulin or plastic can be thrown over leak in some cases to contain it from spreading liquid or vapour.

In some cases emergency services may have to be called to take over if out of control.

[sandybapat]

Thanks Renger1.
I appreciate your suggestion of throwing tarpaulin or plastic over the leak.
Safety of the persons nearest to leak is most important. Thought of following prerequisites to equipment the operating personnel with eventuality of handling Ammonia leakages:
1. Availability of safety gazettes and as rightly said by you is availability of safety shower / eye wash station in the vicinity.
2. Provision of adequate ventilation in plant room.
3. Operator should be aware of the isolation switches on the electrical panel for various equipment.
4. Operator should be conversant with flow diagram / P&I Diagram to pinpoint the leakage point and which valve need to be closed to stop the Ammonia flow towards leakage point.
5. Operators should be trained in handling various safety gazettes.

[Tycho]

In Norway the regulations say that you have to have gas detectors inside the machinery room that shuts down all electricity and starts emergency ventilation.

Not going to go into the whole regulations thing :)

on ship installations the machinist is trained for "smoke diving" to put out fires or gaining access to the engine room when it is filled with smoke, so when we crosstrain them, it's simply in the use of a full chem suit with the smoke diving gear underneath, and to stay away from any liquid spray (and then some, Just making it simple).

On land sites, they have chem suits designed to be worn with filter masks, however, the main responsibility of the machinist of a land installation, once he has surveyed the situation, is to first evacuate the site, then to call the fire department, then to survey the situation again and judge if he can solve the situation on his own (with help of other emergency trained personnel on site of course).
The fire department is not to be called off until the situation is under control, and even if called off they will arrive on site and do a safety inspection.

the problem being that land sites aren't required to have "smoke diving" gear, and in case of any substantial leak, the filters on the mask will be overwhelmed and "clog" up long before a guy running on adrenaline needs to don a chem suit.


There was a situation here a few years ago where someone unscrewed and knocked out the blanking plug on a service valve on a HP receiver without checking if the valve was closed first (it was open).
The two guys in the room managed to get out, threw on their masks and started back in, but only made it 5 meters in before their filters clogged up and they couldn't breathe.
if there had been a smoke diving set on site, they could have donned a proper chem suit and being two experienced ammonia technicians they could have closed the valve.

instead they had to wait 20 minutes for the fire department and then another 20 minutes as the fire department figured out what to do...




So, my thoughts about how much an on site mechanic should do is

1: Check how extensive the leak is?
2: notify on site security and evacuate workers just in case it gets worse
3:Notify Fire department or whoever is responsible for emergency response
4: with other trained personnel, take stock of the situation and find out if they should try to enter or wait for FD

[RANGER1]

In Norway the regulations say that you have to have gas detectors inside the machinery room that shuts down all electricity and starts emergency ventilation.

Not going to go into the whole regulations thing :)

on ship installations the machinist is trained for "smoke diving" to put out fires or gaining access to the engine room when it is filled with smoke, so when we crosstrain them, it's simply in the use of a full chem suit with the smoke diving gear underneath, and to stay away from any liquid spray (and then some, Just making it simple).

On land sites, they have chem suits designed to be worn with filter masks, however, the main responsibility of the machinist of a land installation, once he has surveyed the situation, is to first evacuate the site, then to call the fire department, then to survey the situation again and judge if he can solve the situation on his own (with help of other emergency trained personnel on site of course).
The fire department is not to be called off until the situation is under control, and even if called off they will arrive on site and do a safety inspection.

the problem being that land sites aren't required to have "smoke diving" gear, and in case of any substantial leak, the filters on the mask will be overwhelmed and "clog" up long before a guy running on adrenaline needs to don a chem suit.


There was a situation here a few years ago where someone unscrewed and knocked out the blanking plug on a service valve on a HP receiver without checking if the valve was closed first (it was open).
The two guys in the room managed to get out, threw on their masks and started back in, but only made it 5 meters in before their filters clogged up and they couldn't breathe.
if there had been a smoke diving set on site, they could have donned a proper chem suit and being two experienced ammonia technicians they could have closed the valve.

instead they had to wait 20 minutes for the fire department and then another 20 minutes as the fire department figured out what to do...




So, my thoughts about how much an on site mechanic should do is

1: Check how extensive the leak is?
2: notify on site security and evacuate workers just in case it gets worse
3:Notify Fire department or whoever is responsible for emergency response
4: with other trained personnel, take stock of the situation and find out if they should try to enter or wait for FD



Wish I would have thought of all those things! :D