Today the US Chemical Safety Board released a DRAFT report on a 2009 Explosion and Fire at a petroleum terminal facility. So far, the CSB has identified “Inadequate Management of Gasoline Storage Tank Overfill Hazard” as the root cause of this accident. I can still remember the 2005 Buncefield incident that very closely mirrors this incident in the respect that it was an OVER-FLOW event involving FLAMMABLE LIQUIDS which formed a large VAPOR CLOUD that found an ignition source WELL BEYOND its Class I Hazardous Location. The company in this 2009 incident captured the flash fire and subsequent explosion on security camera(s). PLEASE do not write this off as “never happen here” merely because of the scale of this incident (e.g. 200,000 gallons overflowed into secondary containment), as these type of events occur FAR TOO OFTEN. They do not all result in bad consequences, but the event of overfilling vessels is far too common!
LASTLY… remember this incident when OSHA attempts to REVISE their PSM standard so that these storage tanks would fall under 1910.119. Even compliance with 1910.106 would NOT have prevented this incident; unless the tanks are indoors.