With the release of the CSB accident report involving the catastrophic failure of an ASME pressure vessel and me posting it this afternoon, I am already getting e-mails (5 and counting within the first two hours) claiming the incident is “1 in a million” and that I am scaring people for no sound reason. Really? How often do we think accidents involving a pressure vessel occurs? Do we actually think they are truly 1 in a million or at some other frequency? Well, here is the actual data over a 10 year period (1992-2001) from the National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors…
statistic includes power boilers, steam heating boilers, water heating boilers, and unfired pressure vessels
- 1992 to 2001 a total of 23,338 pressure vessel related accidents; which averages at 2,334 accidents per year
- The reporting year 2000 saw the highest number of accidents at 2,686
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The reporting year 1998 saw the lowest number of accidents at 2,011
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The number of fatalities as a direct result of boiler and pressure vessel accidents was 127 over the past 10 years (1992 to 2001).
Source: The National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors, National Board Bulletin, Summer 2002 (pdf)