About HF spill in Gumi City - updates in Chemical World

The report in the following link gives some important information about leakage of eight tonnes of HF. The police stated that workers did not follow safety procedures for unloading to save some time. The company or local government does not have slaked lime for neutralization of HF and they could get the same only after one day of the incident. The fire fighters are not aware of the chemical spilled or the hazards of HF as they came with normal fire fighting and personal protective equipment.
It is stated that as per CCTV footage seen, workers tried to transfer the HF from tanker by connecting an air hose to a valve in the tank and the white vapors at high pressure from the tank engulfed the workers. And, when firefighters sprayed the water, the spilled acid spread further.
Pressure transfer system is fraught with dangers and many incidents were reported in such transfers across the world.
The above incident is a lesson for us that

• we should review chemical transfer methods
• carry HAZOP study to know the hazards, consequences and measures to be taken
• train the workers and supervisors about the hazards and procedures to be followed
• ensure display of procedure, material safety data sheets for the chemicals used
• provide sufficient capacity of secured collection pit for collecting neutralized acid or for collecting acid and they to do neutralization
• ensure availability of scrubbing/neutralization system for maximum credible scenario
• ensure supervision during the work, etc

http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2012/11/hydrofluoric-acid-gumi-korea-leak-hube
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/pdfs/76-143f.pdf