Inspection Detail

Inspection: 120313747 - Bentley-Simonson Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Van Nuys District Office

Investigation Summary

At 12:15 p.m. on December 27, 2002, two employees were injured at a natural gas production facility. The employer, Bentley- Simonson Inc, is an independent oil company that produces both oil and gas. The site where the employees were injured was a recently acquired natural gas field. At the time of the accident, Employee #1, a field operator, and Employee #2 , a construction superintendent, were responding to a failure of a chiller alarm for a compressor. The equipment they were working on was composed of a chiller unit or low temperature separator, that cools the natural gas to remove the natural gas liquids and a glycol dehydration unit that absorbs water from the gas which goes through a reboiler to boil off the water. The two employees tried to bleed the chiller down by opening a upper inlet valve. This did not work, so Employee #1 opened a lower valve on the stabilizer reflux vessel. At the time of the incident, both employees were standing on the east side of the equipment with the stabilizer between them and the glycol dehydration unit. Liquid natural gas drained out on the ground. The vapors and gases traveled up through an opening of the flame arrestor portion of the glycol dehydration unit and were ignited by a pilot light. This resulted in a fire ball with burns to the two employees. Employee #1 had first-degree burns to the arms and face but was not hospitalized. Employee #2 received second-degree burns to the left arm and the right hand as well as minor first-degree burns to the face, and was hospitalized for 11 days.

Keywords: BURN, COMPRESSOR, FIRE, NATURAL GAS, VALVE, ARM, FACE, HAND