Chemical incident response drill 2025 held in Da Nang

According to the hypothetical situation, at about 9:30 am on August 22, a chlorine chemical leak occurred at the Cau Do Water Plant's chlorine storage area. The cause was that while replacing the chlorine gas cylinder, two operators carelessly blew the cylinder valve, causing chlorine gas to leak out of the cylinder.

Upon identifying the hazardous situation, the two workers immediately used specialized protective equipment to handle chlorine gas leak.

However, exposure to chlorine gas and subsequent panic led to improper handling, resulting in damage to the valve at the top of the tank. Chlorine gas continued to leak out, and there was no temporary prevention measure.

Due to inhaling the initial amount of chlorine gas, the two technical workers showed signs of abnormal health, so they decided to escape from the chlorine storage area and alerted the person in charge of the Cau Do Water Plant via the walkie-talkie and the plant's alarm system.

The person in charge quickly notified the company's Chemical Incident Prevention and Response Board to mobilize forces and means from Da Nang Water Supply JSC to support the incident response.

The incident occurred beyond the response capacity of the Cau Do Water Plant's incident response force. Immediately afterwards, other forces from the Da Nang Water Supply JSC, the police force and militia of Cam Le Ward, the Department of Health, the Department of Industry and Trade, the Fire Prevention, Fighting and Rescue Police Division under the Da Nang Department of Public Security, the city’s Military Command, and the 78th Chemical Defense Battalion of General Staff of Military Region 5 were mobilized to deploy response measures.

The incident was handled promptly. Environmental disinfection, cleaning, sanitation, measurement, monitoring, and investigation of the cause were carried out in a timely manner.

Speaking at the drill, Vice Chairman of the municipal People's Committee Tran Chi Cuong requested businesses with chemical activities to raise awareness and consider chemical incident prevention as an important task in their production and business activities.

Businesses should regularly check for potential chemical risks, follow safety management procedures, store chemicals properly, and comply with all current regulations, he added.