Chesapeake Personal Injury Lawyer Info: Compressed Gas Dangers Highlighted by Fatal West Virginia Accident | Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp

The dangers of compressed gas have been outlined in a U.S. Chemical Safety Boardr eport on three accidents at DuPont’s Belle chemical manufacturing plant in West Virginia (WV), which included the fatal release of phosgene gas. Fire Engineering reported. Phosgene was the poison released by many gas artillery shells during World War I.

In the fatal accident, a 58-year-old worker was exposed when phosgene leaked from ruptured braided steel hose attached to a tank. As CSB Chairperson Rafael Moure-Eraso said told Fire Engineering, “Our final report shows in detail how a series of preventable safety shortcomings — including failure to maintain the mechanical integrity of a critical phosgene hose — led to the accidents. That this happened at a company with DuPont’s reputation for safety should indicate the need for every chemical plant to redouble their efforts to analyze potential hazards and take steps to prevent tragedy.”

The board also released a safety video about the dangers of compressed gas.

When things go wrong in industry the results can be horrific for employees, and costly for the companies involved. For instance, our experienced Virginia wrongful death attorneys reported that two companies responsible for the faulty construction of an industrial oil heater at a natural gas plant in Texas (TX) were ordered to pay $85 million to the family of a worker who was killed after a heater at the plant exploded.

Official investigations into fatal industrial accidents often result in violations or shortcomings being uncovered, be it the death of a sanitation worker in a Norfolk, VA truck or the deaths of many miners at a West Virginia (WV) coal mine.

When gas is compressed, there is a potential toxicity and asphyxiation danger even in the case of harmless gases such as nitrogen because the compression makes the gas a potential bomb, not to mention a potential legal time bomb for companies that fail to take all necessary precautions.

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