GhubrahIncidentInves.. - authority for electricity regulation, oman

Report Number: R 8991
Issue: 1.1
1 INTRODUCTION
Following a serious incident at Al Ghubrah Power and Desalination Plant, Muscat,
which resulted in fatal injuries to two Sogex employees (Sogex are the principal
Operation and Maintenance contractor) whilst performing maintenance activities on
the ‘D’ Hypochlorite cylinder, the AER requested Advantica to visit the site of the
incident to carry out an evaluation of the circumstances and the probable cause of
the incident.
On 9 th May 2006 at 0825 hours, two Sogex employees were involved in the
replacement of cladding on the ‘D’ Hypochlorite cylinder when an explosion occurred
that resulted in the two employees receiving serious external burns, and also serious
respiratory problems due to inhalation of the gases during the explosion. Both
employees subsequently died from their injuries.
On 10 th May 2006 Advantica principal engineer Mr. John Martin (the author of this
report) visited the scene of the incident and met with Sogex senior management
personnel. The investigations carried out and detailed in this report should not be
deemed to be in lieu of any police and/or insurance investigative processes. The
following details a brief report on the findings of the interviews of the Sogex
personnel and a survey of the scene of the accident.
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