The fatal hydrogen sulfide release at a US refinery operated by Pemex in October occurred when two contract workers opened the wrong section of piping, a preliminary investigation by the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) has concluded. The hour-long release discharged over 12 metric tonnes of the toxic gas that killed two workers and seriously injured 13 others.
The maintenance work was supposed to be done on a different, isolated piping segment about 1.5m from the flange that was opened. One of the contractors involved was killed, while the second fatality was a contractor from a separate company, working on equipment around 75m downwind of the incident.
The CSB investigation is ongoing, covering areas including contractor management systems, hazard analyses and risk assessments, maintenance procedures, as well as emergency preparedness and response systems.
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