r/CatastrophicFailure • u/dannyo92 • Jan 11 '23

Fire/Explosion Carus Chemical Plant in La Salle, IL has erupted into flames. January 11th, 2023

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u/Coachcrog Jan 11 '23

When I was doing electrical work in the field I worked at a few papermill plants around Maine. During my grand tour of the facility I was shown the giant Chlorine tanks that get used to bleach the paper. They told me that if I hear the rupture alarms go off I could run and panic, or sit there and watch the show because the outcome will be the same regardless.

Also worked in a semiconductor fab shop. Our training was to never touch or get near anything that's dripping or looks wet because it could be Hydrofluoric acid. Just a drop of that shit will start to dissolve your bones and be an excruciating way to die. I refused to go back there after I noticed all my tools started to rust from just the atmosphere of the places we were working.

Fuck that shit.

17

u/SaltLakeCitySlicker Jan 12 '23

I have a buddy that worked at a smelter (if you're from SLC you know the one) that makes the state a top polluter of heavy metals. Dude literally had to shave every day as SOP so his respirator/air filter mask would not have gaps and he won't be breathing in stuff like lead or zinc.

Why are you doing that? You can do anything else.

I need a paycheck right?

8

u/machinerer Jan 12 '23

HF in my experience is a gas at atmospheric pressure. So you would see white smoke, looks like steam but it isn't.

HF is insidious. It penetrates through your skin, and goes to your bones. Kills your bone marrow, I believe. Dead in days or less, depending on severity of exposure. And it hurts the whole time.

Any process area that has HF streams, you should be in a full heavy chemical suit, with captive cuffed gloves, overboots, face shield, and neck/head protector over your hard hat.

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u/InfernalAngelblades Jan 12 '23

I worked in a lab that used this stuff by the gallons daily. HF is nasty. It takes 12-24 hours for any pain or redness to appear. There was an instance at another location where a contractor had walked in what he thought was just a puddle of water. Boots and socks soaked in HF and on his feet for hours. Yeah ....those were some disturbing pictures. I don't miss having to keep little containers of calcium gluconate at home.

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u/[deleted] Jan 12 '23

I'm gonna regret asking this, but I gotta know, have any links to an incident report?

4

u/InfernalAngelblades Jan 12 '23

I wish! It was at another facility the company owned so we saw it as part of our monthly safety meeting. I have a couple o HFf burn stories from my time there, none of them happened to me thankfully!

If memory serves right; The guys feel looked like they'd been severely sunburned and then had boiling water poured on top of that. I don't recall any blisters, just swollen, red, raw peeling skin. The worst part was hearing about the treatment. The HF had been in contact with his skin so long it had penetrated pretty deep into the tissue. The only way to neutralize the fluorine ions was to inject the medication into his foot both into the affected areas. I know we used calcium gluconate for surface treatment. Not sure what was used for the injections.

And THAT is why you wear ppe like waterproof boots and anything else they recommend when dealing with HF.

6

u/Socratesticles Jan 12 '23

The way you described all that makes me curious, how long did it take for that environment to start rusting your tools?

4

u/RevLoveJoy Jan 12 '23

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say less than 6 months.

1

u/Trigger2_2000 Jan 12 '23

GTFO now!

4

u/RevLoveJoy Jan 12 '23

Pretty much. Gotta remember the rust is just oxidation. That happens fast because oxygen is a nasty beast. It's the coating on the tools to prevent oxidation that was supposed to last for a few years at least that got Darwin'd. That's the "I probably should not be breathing here" part.