Explosion in Chemical/Drying Process

At approximately 10:00 p.m. on December 8, 2020, an employee was standing on a second-floor catwalk above a double-cone dryer in a chemical processing plant when the dryer exploded during its first-run drying operation of a chlorinated solid material. The blast resulted in fatal blunt-force trauma to the worker, who was transported to the hospital and later died from the injuries. Investigators found that the dryer’s design and startup procedure failed to account for pressure buildup and reactive energy during the first‐run, and the operator’s location placed him directly in the blast zone. The explosion released metal fragments […]