Failure to Identify Compressed Gas

Cause & Consequence

• Release of a harmful substance

Incident Location

Onshore construction/rig repair yard

Incident Activity

Any Activity Type

Incident Info Source

Pam Forbes, e-mail :pamela.forbes@total.com

Specific Incident Equipment

Compressed Gas Quads

Lessons Identified

Major compressor damage could occur if Oxygen was introduced into compressor seal system.The fittings on the nitrogen quad and oxygen quad are the same type.Pack was returned from platform and confirmed as Oxygen.Regulation: EN-1089 Technical Information Sheet No.6 Rev1 2005. Cylinder Identification

Incident Recommendations

Supply company’s QA/QC procedures modified.Oxygen Packs to be re-labeled with 250 x 250 Compressed Gas and Oxidizing agent labels on the outlet side of the Pack along with the named content at connection fitting.Consider using 300Barg N2 Bottles which have a different connection fittings to other compressed gasses in this field.It is important to read the cylinder labels to identify the cylinder contents and not rely on the colour of the cylinder: this should only be a secondary means of identifying a cylinder’s content