Shanghai Petrochemical suddenly exploded, causing one death and one injury.

Yesterday, Shanghai Petrochemical boarded the hot search, not because of the anniversary, but because of the explosion and fire.

At 4: 28 on June 18th, the Chemical Department of Shanghai Petrochemical Company caught fire, and the fireball went straight into the sky, with explosions in many places. The live video shows that after the fire broke out, the flame spread and the whole factory area was covered with black smoke.

At that time, it was two or three kilometers away from the explosion point. An eyewitness said, "I thought it was thundering at first, and the sky behind it was red." According to its introduction, the explosion was more than one area. "Three explosions, two loud."

Weibo, the official of Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co., Ltd., immediately responded that a fire broke out in the ethylene glycol plant area of the Ministry of Chemical Industry of Shanghai Petrochemical at around 4:00 on June 18th, and the company immediately launched the first-level plan, which is currently under emergency treatment.

At 10: 30 am yesterday, the latest news of "Shanghai Petrochemical Online" in Weibo, after preliminary verification, at present, an employee of Shanghai Petrochemical was slightly bruised on the arm and a driver of a third-party transport vehicle died. The specific reasons are under further investigation.

After the fire broke out, Shanghai 119 Command Center quickly dispatched rescue forces such as Jinshan, Fengxian and Chemical Industry Zone to the scene to fight the fire. Relevant personnel of the fire rescue detachment of Shanghai Chemical Industry Park said that as of 9: 00 on the 18th, the fire was basically controlled, but it was difficult to dispose of, and it is expected that it may still burn protectively for some time.

The area where the fire broke out was an ethylene glycol plant. Ethylene glycol is an important chemical raw material, and its production process is mainly the hydration of ethylene oxide, which is extremely flammable and explosive, so relevant safety rules will be formulated during production, transportation and storage.

And "protective combustion" is a kind of treatment method made by firefighters and rescuers according to the disaster caused by flammable and explosive substances such as ethylene glycol, which is also the usual treatment method for fires in large chemical refining units. The residual materials can be burned out in a controlled way, and then the next rescue work can be carried out. On the one hand, it can reduce the excessive cost of forced fire fighting, and on the other hand, it can prevent more serious secondary explosion.

It is reported that after the fire broke out, Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical launched an environmental emergency plan at the same time, and continuously monitored the environment at the company’s factory boundary and external areas, and the monitoring of volatile organic compounds was normal. Arrangements have been made to strengthen the sampling and monitoring of rainwater outlets, and no impact has been found on the surrounding water environment.

Just the day before the accident, Shanghai Petrochemical just held the 50th anniversary celebration meeting. At the celebration meeting, the company put forward the goal and prospect of carrying forward the fine tradition of petroleum and petrochemical industry and the "Jinshan spirit" and striding forward towards the goal of building a "domestic leading and world-class" energy, chemical and new materials company. However, a big fire plunged Shanghai Petrochemical into the whirlpool of public opinion.

Shanghai Petrochemical Complex was built on June 18th, 1972. But a shocking fire and explosion happened on the same day 50 years later. Time coincidence aside, the decline in investment in safety may be one of the main causes of the explosion.

According to the social responsibility report disclosed by Shanghai Petrochemical, from 2019 to 2021, the company’s investment in production safety was 234.78 million yuan, 284.72 million yuan and 112.37 million yuan respectively, which was 60% lower than that in 2021. During the seven years from 2015 to 2021, the company’s major fire and explosion accidents and major liability accidents were all zero.

In addition, Shanghai Petrochemical Company just carried out overhaul and reconstruction in May. According to its WeChat official account information, in May, in order to ensure the stable and orderly epidemic prevention of the resident and personnel of the construction unit during the overhaul, the company set up four temporary overhaul contractors in the polyester east area, the polyester west area, the western area of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Water Affairs and the ethylene glycol area of the Ministry of Chemical Industry.

There have been two explosion accidents in petroleum and petrochemical plants this year. The last explosion accident occurred in Qilu Petrochemical Company on April 24th, 2022. In less than two months, accidents occurred in petrochemical enterprises one after another. As a high-risk and explosive industry, it is particularly important for petroleum and petrochemical related enterprises to do a good job in safety prevention.

Original title: "Shanghai Petrochemical suddenly exploded, causing 1 death and 1 injury"

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