Lessons learned from HIAD 2.0. Inspection and maintenance to avoid hydrogen-induced material failures

Hydrogen has the potential to make countries energetically self-sufficient and independent in the long term. Nevertheless, its extreme combustion properties and its capability of permeating and embrittling most metallic materials produce significant safety concerns. The Hydrogen Incidents and Accidents Database 2.0 (HIAD 2.0) is a public repository that collects data on hydrogen-related undesired events mainly occurred in chemical and process industry. This study conducts an analysis of the HIAD 2.0 database, mining information systematically through a computer science approach known as Business Analytics. Moreover, several hydrogen-induced material failures are investigated to understand their root causes. As a result, a deficiency in planning effective inspection and maintenance activities is highlighted as the common cause of the most severe accidents. The lessons learned from HIAD 2.0 could help to promote a safety culture, to improve the abnormal and normal events management and to stimulate a widespread rollout of hydrogen technologies.