A catastrophic incident at an engineering facility serves as a definitive case study in the dangers of improper pressure testing. A technician suffered life-altering injuries when a 335-liter (88-gallon) vessel exploded during a pressure test.
The root cause was a fundamental failure in hazard control: the company opted to use compressed air (pneumatic testing) instead of water (hydrostatic testing) to verify the integrity of questionable weld joints.