Petrochemical Plant Explosion

Major incidents such as explosions in volatile areas need careful management by experienced loss adjusters. This explosion, at the premises of a manufacturer of organo-phosphates and other products, meant access to the site was severely restricted in the early stages of the recovery plan. Investigations showed that the cause of the explosion was a wrongly-labelled consignment of a chemical that had come from Europe . When unloaded into the storage vessel on site, the chemical reacted with a different residual chemical in the vessel, causing the explosion. A number of glass-lined reactor vessels were damaged and required sourcing and replacing. Adjusting the Business Interruption loss meant understanding in detail the inter-dependency of the plant's various production trains. The Insured also alleged that the site steam main had been damaged in the explosion but the RHP loss adjuster was able to demonstrate that this was not the case.