Natech Accidents Triggered by Heat Waves

Abstract

Natech accidents have an increasing relevance due to the growing number of such events and to their severe consequences. Climate change and global warming are intensifying the occurrence and the magnitude of climate-related natural events, further increasing the risk of cascading sequences triggered by natural disasters impacting industrial installations. The present study focuses on Natech triggered by heat waves. The features of this specific category of Natech events were investigated by past accident analysis, collecting an extended dataset of past events. The dataset analysis allowed the identification of the key factors that characterize these accident scenarios, such as the direct causes, the technological scenario that occurred, the substance categories, and the equipment items more frequently involved. The main direct cause of accidents resulted in an internal pressure increase, exceeding equipment design limits. Fire scenarios represent the most important category of technological scenarios that occurred. Besides equipment items handling liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons, waste storage and processing systems also resulted frequently in accidents, due to the self-decomposition and self-ignition phenomena. The analysis of past accidents also allowed identifying some lessons learned, useful to identify specific actions aimed at preventing and/or mitigating the possible occurrence of these accident scenarios.