In recent years, offshore operators on the Outer Continental Shelf have reported multiple flash-fire incidents that resulted in injuries and damage to facilities. Investigations found that static discharge was a contributing factor in each of the incidents. Flash-fire incidents occurred during multiple types of operations, including maintenance on a control panel when natural gas was being vented, or when flammable fluids were drained into a bucket or as flammable liquids were transferred between containers. A static discharge can occur when an electrical charge accumulates on the surfaces of two materials, one with a positive charge and the other with a negative charge, that makes contact and are separated. A static discharge can occur between two solids, a solid and a liquid, or between two non-mixable liquids. The heat generated from a static discharge is somewhere between 3,000°F and 6,000°F and can create enough energy to start a fire regardless of the flashpoint of hydrocarbon-based fluids. Safely discharging the accumulation of static electricity requires bonding and grounding of any conductive equipment with the potential to produce electricity.
Bonding involves…