Plant's gas release called 'near miss'

Workers at Florida Power's Anclote plant say there was potential for explosion during a recent hydrogen gas release.

By EDIE GROSS

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 10, 1999

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Tony Harrell read news reports of the explosion Thursday at Tampa Electric Co. and could not help thinking the same disaster could happen to him.

The former TECO employee is now a welder at Florida Power Corp.'s Anclote plant in southwest Pasco County, which on Monday experienced what company officials are calling a "near miss."

In the early morning hours, the plant on the Anclote River began releasing hydrogen from one of its generators, a routine procedure to prepare the generator for maintenance.

Hydrogen is used to cool the generator, but the highly flammable gas can explode if it comes in contact with a spark.

Several employees, including Harrell, told the Times Friday that Florida Power failed to warn them it was releasing hydrogen. So employees who arrived at work about 7 a.m. say they smoked cigarettes, welded, burned through steel with acetylene torches and buffed steel for hours, creating plenty of sparks and the potential for an explosion.

"The potential was there. I guess God saved us from it," Harrell said. "We were burning, smoking, welding and grinding all over. We had all the catalysts there, but it didn't happen."

Roy Anderson, senior vice president of Florida Power's energy supply business unit, said an explosion would not have happened because the hydrogen gas was released into the atmosphere from an outside vent in another area of the plant and about 50 feet above the heads of workers.

Most, if not all, of the hydrogen had been released before workers arrived for the day shift, he said.

But he acknowledged that safety procedures at the plant were violated. The night shift supervisor should have informed the incoming workers at 7 a.m. that hydrogen was being released from a generator, Anderson said. Somehow, that message did not get across, he said.

Workers, however, bear some responsibility for the situation, too, he said. Signs placed around the plant and in the elevators warned them that hydrogen was being released, he said.

"Could we have had an explosion? No," Anderson said Friday. "But the other question is, if you have danger signs up, why weren't they followed?"

Workers said they received no warning until an all-clear message was broadcast at 11:45 a.m.

Anclote plant manager David Buell met with employees Friday to talk about the mistakes made, Anderson said.

The company called the incident a "near miss" because any mistake that does not cause an injury is considered a near miss, Anderson said.

" We draw the line at near miss," he said. "You want to work on the near misses, not the accidents."

But with visions of TECO's explosion fresh in their minds, employees at Florida Power's Anclote plant did not feel reassured Friday.

"What we're concerned about is something might happen here," electrician Fred Riecken said.