17 February 2005
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY ACT, 1993, AS AMENDED SASOL INCIDENTS
1 PURPOSE
1.1 The purpose of this memo is to inform Parliamentary Portfolio Committee for Labour on the progress with regards to the recent high profile incidents at Sasol.
2.1 On the 2nd of September 2004 on the day of the incident the department inspector were at the plant of Sasol for an inspection.
2 The following day, the chief inspector, Messrs Jakes Malatse and P. Laubscher visited the scene and arrived at the scene at about 14:10. It was decided that Head Office would lead the investigation after it was discussed with officials from the Mpumalanga Provincial office, because it was a high profile incident.
2.3 The Acting Director General, Acting Deputy Director General: SD, Chief Inspector and Executive Manager: Electrical and Mechanical also visited the site on the 9" of September 2004 and held a meeting with Sasol Management.
2.4 The cause of the incident was due to the leak at the orifice plate section (see photograph 1 and 2) in the C2pipe before the main valve for Unit 24 where the gas flow is measured. This section consists of two flanges, orifice plate and two probes to measure the pressure. It is not known at this state who removed the bolts and nuts (see photograph 2 3 and 4)
PMG NOTE (Photograph not included and can be made available at request)
2.5 Mr. P. Laubscher also photographed the scene of the incident. A letter was given to Sasol requesting them to submit documents to Head Office. A receipt was given to Sasol for evidence that was taken by Mr. P. Laubscher
2.6 The department also made used of the service of CSIR to do a technical and scientific investigation.
2.7 Mr. L. Mathee, the inspector from Mpumalanga Provincial office, has served another prohibition notice on Sasol, prohibiting any shutdown work, unless pipelines with flammable gases have been identified and clearly marked to ensure that an acceptable level of safety is attained.
2.8 The formal inquiry started on the 27th of October 2004. The inquiry was postponed on the 29th of October 2004 till the 14th of March 2005 for the whole week. This was the earliest week available for everyone to attend the inquiry.
2.9 The presiding inspector also wanted to allow the investigation officer from the SAPS to question the witnesses at the formal inquiry, but the legal representative were successful with their appeal to the chief inspector.
2.10 The department have a very good idea what went wrong during the shutdown that led to the incident and are positive to find the root cause of this incident.
3 NATREF INCIDENT ON 30 OCTOBER 2004
3.1 Mr. P Laubscher has assisted the inspectors from Free State Provincial office with the investigation, including Mr. Dirk Claasen who was tasked to carry out the investigation.
3.2 The main cause of the incident was probably a faulty valve on one of the compartments of the tank. The tanker belongs to another company.
3.3 Apparently, some of the filling procedures was also not followed during the filling.
3.4 The post mortem report is the only outstanding item which is with the investigation officer from the SAPS.
4 NATREF INCIDENT ON 26 JANUARY
4.1 Natref was visited on the 26* and 27" of January 2005 at 8h00. There was a gas leakage at the plant during the shutdown. An alarm was switched on to warn people in the area.
4.2 A few seconds later, the gas alarm went off. The employees were already on their way to the safe area when, according to rumors, the direction of the wind changed and 17 employees inhaled the gas. As the gas started moving, it ignited, but nobody was affected by the fire, as they had moved away to safety.
4.3 The incident is still under investigation.
5 SASOL INCIDENT ON 29 JANUARY 2005
5.1 The incident happened on the 29th of January 2005 at about 17:30 in the Carbo-tar plant.
5.2 Messrs. R. Mokoena (standby inspector) and Kabanyane went out to the scene of the incident.
5.3 This explosion occurred a week after the shutdown period.
5.4 No person was injured and the incident is still under investigation.