PERMALINK Posted 8:25 PM by Jordan
Another Day, Another Explosion at BP
So what else is new?
Another explosion rocked the Texas City BP plant last Thursday night
-- the same plant that exploded killing 15 workers and injuring 170
last March. No one was injured, although the U.S. Chemical Safety
Board sent two investigators in to determine the cause. The CSB is
also investigating the March explosion.
This time the problem seems to be installation of the wrong type of
pipe:
Installation of the wrong type of steel pipe contributed to the
Thursday night explosion at BP's Texas City refinery, company
officials said.
A section of carbon steel pipe was installed during a maintenance
shutdown at the Resid Hyrotreating Unit in February, spokesman
Ronnie Chappell said.
The pipe should have been chromium alloy steel pipe, the company
said.
Investigators were trying to determine whether BP employees or
contractors did the work, Chappell said.
Contractors do most such maintenance work in the industry.
"The investigation team will review the February 2005 RHU
maintenance effort in order to determine how the mistake occurred
and what steps can be taken to prevent a recurrence," BP said in a
prepared statement.
The failed line is between a compressor and heat exchanger on the
RHU, Chappell said.
High-pressured gas, primarily hydrogen, was released when the pipe
broke, U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board
officials said in a statement.
The United Steelworkers of America, which represents the workers at
the plant, were none too happy with the state of safety at the
company:
United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo W. Gerard said today that
yesterday's explosion at BP's Texas City facility - the fifth
serious accident there in recent years - "raises grave doubts about
the company's commitment to taking the urgent steps necessary to
make that refinery safer for our members and the Texas City
community."
Yesterday's explosion came on the heels of a massive explosion at
the facility on
March 24 that killed 15 contract workers. Ever since the March
accident, the USW has been pressing BP to disclose crucial
information that it says is essential for improving safety for both
its members and the community.
"If BP spent as much time working on safety as it does on blaming
workers and stonewalling our union on information we need to
address the scope of the problem, we'd be seeing real progress
instead of more explosions," said Gary Beevers, Director of USW
Region 6.
And in one of the understatements of the year,
"We are very concerned that there has been another explosion," said
Carolyn Merritt, chairman of the CSB in Washington. "The first
thing that goes through your mind is that these may be indicators
that there are some systemic problems at this facility."
May be....
Labels: BP, Chemical Safety Board
PERMALINK Posted 8:17 PM by Jordan
Death in the Workplace; Families Left Behind
OSHA fined Acetylene Service Company $237,600 for an explosion in
January that killed three Perth Amboy men and severely injured a
fourth. It was a fairly substantial fine for a small company,
including three $42,000 willful penalties.
But it also turns out that the Hispanic workers killed in the
explosion were not just disembodied names and statistics, but actually
real people with families and dreams. The wife of one of the workers
is even clerking for a New Jersey Superior Court Judge
Who woulda thunk it?
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