This just reminded me of an incident in a Scottish town just outside Glasgow about 20 years ago. Swimming pools use a base chemicals to chlorinate their water and an Acid to then bring the Ph of the water back to around 7.2 .
One of the systems uses Sodiumhypochloride and hydrochloric acid. The chemicals are stored onsite in 1200 litre bulk tanks then pumped to 25 or 50 litre day tanks. The bulk tanks have different connectors so you can’t put the wrong chemical in the wrong tank.
Sadly the combination of a new Duty manager, a new Tanker driver, and a box of male, female adaptors and step up and step down adaptors and connectors in the side pod of the tanker, the unthinkable happened.
The duty manager told the tanker where the acid had to be pumped into to fill the bulk tank. The Tanker driver noted the connection was the wrong gender for the line on his tanker. Checked again with the Duty Manager, then raked through the adaptors in the side pod till he found the parts he needed to pump his 1000 litre delivery into the bulk tank.
Seconds after he started to pump his load there was a very strong smell of the baths. He finished his delivery as the swimming pool were having a fire drill.
The building had been evacuated due to a smell of chlorine gas over the next half hour over five thousand people in the surrounding area were evacuated for a period of 26 hours until the poor fire brigade could declare the area safe.
The company delivering the Acid were taken over before the court case and new procedures were put in place.
A fool proof system but not a human proof system.
Alan
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