incident report Bioenergy A summary of the recent major explosions, fires and leaks in the bioenergy industry Date
Location
Company
Incident information
18/4/2016
Nghi Loc District, Vietnam
Gioi Go Viet Nam Co.
An explosion at a Vietnamese wood pellet plant left 11 people injured with severe burns. According to the Nghi Loc District police, initial investigation found the blast originated in a pipe supplying fuel to the wood pelleting machine. Two of the injured workers were in critical condition, and all of them have been compensated by local authorities.
7/4/2016
Newby Bridge, UK
N/A
Fire crews were alerted to a blaze at a biomass plant near a popular hotel in Newby Bridge, UK. The fire was brought under control during the same day and no casualties were reported. No cause for the incident has been published by the time of writing.
5/4/2016
British Columbia, Canada
Conifex
Data from Canada’s WorkSafe shows that the organisation in last October fined the Conifex pellet mill in Fort St. James C$75,000 (€51,000) for safety violations. The WorkSafe investigation determined the company had put up to 30 workers at risk of death for neglecting to clean wood dust build-ups in several areas of the mill.
29/3/2016
British Columbia, Canada
Pinnacle Pellet
A fire broke out at Pinnacle Pellet’s Lavington plant in the building used for drying the wood pellets. The fire was brought under control during the same day and no injuries were reported. The blaze is suspected to have started in a dryer, but according to the local fire department the precise cause may be difficult to discover.
AJ TENSILE BIOGAS SYSTEMS Ltd
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ajtensile.co.uk l 01291 425099 l richard@ajtensile.co.uk Bioenergy Insight
May/June 2016 • 23