Ural Federal District’s division of Rostechnadzor (the industrial safety watchdog) and the regional labor inspection completed the investigation of an accident that took place at Uralkhimplast on April 15, 2009. It was detected that an explosion occurred at the ion exchanger unit because of neglected technological regulation. As a result, the reactor was over-filled with excess amount of ammonia solution over a very short period of time, causing an uncontrollable exothermal reaction.

The lack of accident-preventing automatic protection and violation of the industrial safety rules at the enterprise’s hazardous facilities as well as poor production control on the front men’s part thus led to the accident, leaving two operators, a plumber, and an economic expert injured.