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Written by Bryan Haywood

Parent Category: Safety Info Posts

Category: Chemical Process Safety (PSM/RMP)

Published: 04 April 2014

UPDATED with the actual working EXCEL Spreadsheet so that members can sort the data as needed;as well I updated the #'s related to refrigeration below.  I had messed up my first sort and was off by a couple.  

This week I raised a red flag regarding ammonia accidents after the UNLOADING FATALITY at a fertilizer facility, only to be told that it was the wrong "forum" (e.g. ammonia refrigeration) to mention the hazards of ammonia at a fertilizer plant, after all, we are "ammonia refrigeration" and not fertilizer plants.  It seems there still remains those who truly believe that Anhydrous Ammonia somehow behaves and has a different level of hazard depending on how and where it is used.  Granted, the level of risk in a process that has ROUTINE TEMPORARY connections such as a fertilizer distributor is one that is MUCH HIGHER than a closed loop refrigeration process; however, this in NO WAY implies there is little risk in such a closed loop process.  Anyone who hooks up a truck to their process can LEARN from the fertilizer accident and in truth, MOST ammonia delivered to refrigeration processes occurs in the spring and summer months as well!  So I have worked with an organization in analyzing many of the Ammonia Accidents that those of you who use the Incident Alerts have seen over the years.  Here is that accident data regarding the use of Anhydrous Ammonia in the refrigeration industry.  This data is worldwide and takes us from 2006 up to the last quarter of 2013.  This data is SPECIFIC to NH3 used in "REFRIGERATION".  In summary for the period of 2006- 3rd quarter 2013, there have been 93 fatalities from ammonia accidents in refrigeration, 877 injuries, 286 which were "severe" enough to require hospitalization, and 16,482 personnel evacuated.   These numbers correspond to minimum average GLOBAL frequencies of 120 injured, 30 severely harmed and 12 fatalities each year related to ANHYDROUS AMMONIA used in REFRIGERATION.  By comparison, a US survey (SAFTENG Members Access) on ammonia accidents showed an average frequency of 7 accidents and 2 fatalities/year between 1995 and 2006.  This article and data are for SAFTENG members and those who wish to use the data.   This is NOT a scientific study and ONLY media accounts were used in this analysis.  This means that ONLY those releases of Ammonia from a REFRIGERATION process that made the news were captured.  I will allow any deductions one comes to, to their own conclusions; however, the data is what it is.  Use at your discretion.

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