Alert
  • Published: 7 Feb 2013
  • Incident ID: 3458

Minor hydrocarbon release leading to ESD during turbine start up

Cause & Consequence

  • Uncontrolled release of a flammable gas or liquid
Incident Consequence
Hydrocarbon release

Incident Location

Fixed Installation

Incident Activity

Production operations

Specific Incident Equipment

Turbines

Lessons Identified

Existing gasket specification & inspection regime may not be robust enough to prevent re-occurrence

Emergency systems functioned exactly per design in the event of gas detection in this area

Incident Recommendations

Apply specialist sealant to the gasket to prevent deterioration in the interim, pending overhaul of machine during Q1 2013. Overhaul specifications include installation of gaskets with improved resilience

Instruction in place so that when turbines are offline & prior to a restart, the status of the diffuser gasket & surrounding area will be checked and remedied where appropriate

Investigate potential alteration of timings of the purge gas sequence for gas fired starts to shorten the sequence and reduce the amount of un-burned purge gas passed into the exhaust chamber

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