This article is reproduced from the WeChat public account "Xinmin Weekly" (ID: xinminzhoukan), the original text was first published on October 25, 2021, the original title is "China Southern Airlines explosion accident caused 2 deaths, the cause or related to magnesium and aluminum powder? 》。
Author | Takeri
A person familiar with the matter said that the teaching building where the deflagration laboratory is located is a new building, which was only built and put into use last year. The deflagration laboratory is a powder metallurgy laboratory located on the third floor, and the cause may be related to the deflagration of magnesium aluminum powder.
At 15:54 on October 24, the materials laboratory of the School of Materials Science and Technology of the Jiangjun Road Campus of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics caused a fire. The school immediately sent 11 injured people to the hospital for treatment, and 2 of them died after ineffective rescue.
The latest news shows that some media learned from Nanjing Jiangning Hospital that after the incident, the hospital admitted a total of 6 of the less injured people, and the vital signs were good, but further examination was needed.
Watering causes secondary deflagration?
It is understood that the teaching building where the accident occurred was just built last year. Although many offices have been moved here, because the major laboratories still have a large number of equipment, instruments and drugs, teachers and students to do experiments basically still go to the old material building, only a small number will go to the new building.
The home of one witness, separated from the explosion laboratory, was a street away.
At the time of the incident, she suddenly heard a huge explosion and felt that the building was also trembling.
Opening the window, she saw thick gray-black smoke rising above the experimental building, like a mushroom cloud.
About ten minutes after the incident, she heard the sound of fire trucks and ambulances, which lasted for several hours. A "China Southern Airlines University" classmate who lived in the building opposite the accident laboratory recalled that the first "bang" felt that the roof of the building was about to be lifted.
Witnesses to the "China Southern Airlines University" said that the deflagration occurred twice.
A few minutes after the first incident, the students had not yet had time to evacuate, and the laboratory building was suspected of having a second explosion, but he said it was not clear whether the two were the same laboratory.
After that, an eight-second video of "pouring water to put out the fire" sparked controversy online.
In the video, the school building is filled with smoke, someone climbs from the room to the balcony, and two other boys water at the adjacent window on one side, and suddenly the explosion occurs, and the picture is immediately covered with firelight. Some netizens questioned the students' use of water guns to put out fires, which led to the second deflagration.
In this regard, a student of "China Southern Airlines University" said that the students watered to cool the railing, "the door in the video has been covered by fire, they can only climb from the balcony to the nearby corridor, and the balcony railing is very hot, the trapped students can not climb from the railing through the window to the corridor, they use water to cool the railing."
There is no relevant response from "China Southern Airlines" on this situation.
Is the lab mismanaged?
According to a doctor of engineering, there must be three conditions for the generation of deflagration: first, there is a deposit of fuel and combustion air; second, the fuel and air mixture reaches the concentration of deflagration; third, there is enough ignition energy.
Although the degree of harm is not as good as that of "explosion", because before the "explosion", a large amount of indoor air has been fully mixed with a large number of combustible gases or dust, so it will burn instantaneously, causing serious damage to people and things in the room.
Zhou Xing (pseudonym), a graduate of the School of Materials Science of a certain aerospace university, told Xinmin Weekly that there are dangers in all chemical tests.
I remember once when he was doing experiments, he used a centrifuge, forgot to cover the lid, and soon the centrifuge made a humming sound, fortunately, the ratio was balanced at that time, otherwise it was likely that the centrifuge tube would directly break through the lid and blow out a hole in the ceiling.
This year, trial failures have occurred from time to time.
On July 27, at the School of Pharmacy of Sun Yat-sen University, the laboratory was cleaning up the unknown white solid left in the flask left by the previous graduates, and a doctoral student exploded while rinsing with water, and the glass fragments produced by the explosion pierced the blood vessels of the student's arm arteries.
On July 13, a fire broke out in a chemistry laboratory at Southern University of Science and Technology during the experiment, and a postdoctoral laboratory staff caught fire in his hair, which was finally identified as a minor injury.
So, do university laboratories have no relevant management systems to ensure the safety of teachers and students? In 2019, the Ministry of Education issued the "Opinions on Strengthening the Safety Work of Laboratories in Colleges and Universities", which clearly stated that it is necessary to establish a safety regular inspection system, a safety risk assessment system, a full-cycle management system for hazard sources, a laboratory safety emergency system, and improve the laboratory safety management system.
After the explosion accident of China Southern Airlines, the media obtained a copy of the "Laboratory Safety Manual of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics", which shows that according to relevant regulations, experimental personnel should participate in the corresponding safety education and training before entering the laboratory, and can enter the laboratory to study and work after passing the assessment.
If you are engaged in special equipment operations and special operations, you should go through professional training and obtain professional qualifications before you can engage in related work. Experimenters should conscientiously abide by the rules and regulations of the school and laboratory and the operating procedures of instruments and equipment, and do a good job of safety protection. Before entering the lab, students are required to take a laboratory safety exam organized by the school, and only after passing the exam can they enter the lab.
Zhou Xing believes that this kind of management system has regulations in every university, but there are not many that are really strictly enforced. At the very least, students don't take exams when they enter the lab.
The manual also specifically mentions that each laboratory will be equipped with an administrator, and according to the regulations, students need to apply to the administrator to do experiments. Students should conduct experimental research under the guidance of teachers, and must not engage in flammable, explosive, high-pressure, toxic, harmful and other dangerous experiments alone. Zhou Xing revealed that under normal circumstances, when doing experiments, the tutor will teach it again, and then let the students operate alone, and will not always follow.
College public laboratories have configuration administrators, but there is no specific administrator, more often it is the same level of brother or doctoral student agent; some laboratories are not large, and teachers may not be configured. Of course, Zhou Xing also said that even if all the systems are in place, there are still risks in the experiment.
In December 2018, an explosion in a laboratory of Beijing Jiaotong University killed 3 people, and the heart of an old doctor who studied chemical engineering was hot on the Internet, summing up in eight words: don't be lucky, don't be afraid of trouble.
The official website of China Southern Airlines has become gray
As for the large explosion accident of China Southern Airlines, whether it was caused by the failure of the management system to fulfill its responsibilities or the improper operation, the accident is currently under investigation.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Zhang Wu Text Editor: Li Linwei Title Image Source: Visual China Image Editor: Yong Kai
Source: Author: "Xinmin Weekly" WeChat public account