Styrene resin tank cleaning fire at a large-scale GRP moulding factory

摘要

In February 2003 an employee of a heating maintenance company was burned during a tank cleaning operation at a resin-moulding factory. He subsequently died from his injuries. The company produced large motor yachts the hulls of which were made from glass fibre laminated into a resin matrix. The resin was supplied as a solution of styrene/resin that was stored in a large steel bulk tank within a separate annex to the factory. The tank had a capacity of about 37,000 litres. It was divided into two cells by a central partition and had an access manhole 455 mm in diameter fitted to the top of each cell. This was the only access route in and out of the tank.