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2911074 
Book/Book Chapter 
Flixborough explosion: Case closed? 
Venart, JES 
2004 
SCIENCE PRESS BEIJING 
BEIJING 
PROGRESS IN SAFETY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SERIES 
4 
1083-1097 
English 
WOS:000226863500191 
The Flixborough explosion resulted in twenty-eight fatalities as well as the near complete destruction of the NYPRO chemical plant in North Lincolnshire, UK, by blast and then fire June 1, 1974. An official Court of Inquiry was established and charged with the responsibility of determining the cause(s) of the disaster and any lessons to be learnt. This paper reviews the accident, its investigation and inquiry, its attributed cause, and examines an alternate possibility not considered by the Court. The reanalysis suggests that the failure was caused by a complex two-step mechanism that resulted from the initial failure of only one bellows, a release of only 10-15 tonnes of cyclohexane, and the detonation of the consequent vapour cloud with an explosive effect of some 280 tonnes of TNT. This is compared to the single step failure process acknowledged by the Court; the amount of release accepted, 40 - 60 tonnes of cyclohexane; and its explosive effect; 6 to 16 tons of nitro-glycerine. 
flixborough disaster; vapour cloud explosion (VCE); cyclohexane; loss prevention; risk assessment; incident investigation 
Wang, YJ; Huang, P; Li, S; 
7-03-014386-8 
International Symposium on Safety Science and Technology 
Shanghai, PEOPLES R CHINA