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Massive Explosion in Beirut

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  • jordanmills

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    I think this pic is fake, but it's still interesting

    4shxij.jpg
     

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    Younggun

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    From what I remember, the facility in West hadn't been inspected in some years. I think IIRC, it had sort of fallen through the cracks for inspections. That doesn't negate the responsibility in any way for what happened though.

    And here is my standing on that. In many industries, there are inherent dangers that go with them. Whether someone is looking over our shoulder and inspecting our procedures, or not, it's still the responsibility of everyone involved to monitor safety procedures and make sure they are being followed at all times. From the top, all the way to the bottom.

    The silos in west would be filled one day and empty the next. There was much talk about them not reporting the amount of AN they had on site, but it was nothing more than media fodder since by the time the reported amount was documented the silos would be empty again.

    It’s a matter of regulation not really aligning with reality, which isn’t uncommon.


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    Axxe55

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    Lost in East Texas Elhart Texas
    The silos in west would be filled one day and empty the next. There was much talk about them not reporting the amount of AN they had on site, but it was nothing more than media fodder since by the time the reported amount was documented the silos would be empty again.

    It’s a matter of regulation not really aligning with reality, which isn’t uncommon.


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    I found this about the explosion, and the OSHA inspections. Last inspection was in 1985!

    At the time of the incident, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) had last inspected the plant in 1985. According to records obtained by the Associated Press, OSHA cited the plant for improper storage of anhydrous ammonia and fined it $30. OSHA could have fined the company as much as $1,000. OSHA also cited the plant for violations of respiratory protection standards, but did not impose a fine. OSHA officials said the facility was not on their "National Emphasis Plan" for inspections, because it was not a manufacturer, had no record of a major accident, and the Environmental Protection Agency did not consider it a major risk

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Fertilizer_Company_explosion
     

    Axxe55

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    Lost in East Texas Elhart Texas
    Besides the Texas City fire of 1947, another major disaster in Texas was in the small town of New London in 1937.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_London_School_explosion

    Investigation and legislation
    Experts from the United States Bureau of Mines concluded that the connection to the residue gas line was faulty. The connection had allowed gas to leak into the school, and since natural gas is invisible and is odorless, the leak was unnoticed. The sanding machine's switch is believed to have caused a spark that ignited the gas-air mixture. To reduce the damage of future leaks, the Texas Legislature began mandating within weeks of the explosion that thiols (mercaptans) be added to natural gas.[1] The strong odor of many thiols makes leaks quickly detectable. The practice quickly spread worldwide.

    Shortly after the disaster, the Texas Legislature met in emergency session and enacted the Engineering Registration Act (now rewritten as the Texas Engineering Practice Act). Public pressure was on the government to regulate the practice of engineering due to the faulty installation of the natural gas connection; Carolyn Jones, a nine-year-old survivor, spoke to the Texas Legislature about the importance of safety in schools.[23] The use of the title "engineer" in Texas remains legally restricted to those who have been professionally certified by the state to practice engineering

    Of the more than 600 people in the school, only about 130 escaped without serious injury.

    Estimates of the number of dead vary from 296 to 319, but that number could be much higher as many of the residents of New London at the time were transient oilfield workers,[9] and there is no way to determine how many volunteers collected the bodies of their children in the days following the disaster and returned them to their respective homes for burial. Of the deceased the majority of them were from grades 5 through 11[9] as the younger students were educated in a separate building and most had already been dismissed from school.[16] The majority of the victims of the explosion are buried at Pleasant Hill Cemetery, near New London, with an entire section being designated for the victims.[17]

    It was thought that one mother had a heart attack and died when she found out that her daughter died, with only part of her face, her chin and a couple of bones recovered, but this story was found to be untrue when both mother and daughter were found alive
     

    Younggun

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    I found this about the explosion, and the OSHA inspections. Last inspection was in 1985!

    At the time of the incident, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) had last inspected the plant in 1985. According to records obtained by the Associated Press, OSHA cited the plant for improper storage of anhydrous ammonia and fined it $30. OSHA could have fined the company as much as $1,000. OSHA also cited the plant for violations of respiratory protection standards, but did not impose a fine. OSHA officials said the facility was not on their "National Emphasis Plan" for inspections, because it was not a manufacturer, had no record of a major accident, and the Environmental Protection Agency did not consider it a major risk

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Fertilizer_Company_explosion

    I’m not a big OSHA fan, so this doesn’t bother me too terribly much. I also don’t think it really relates to the cause of the explosion in West which IIRC was a guy who decided to smoke where he shouldn’t.


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    majormadmax

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    Just finished Andrew Hopkins' Failure to Learn about the 2005 Texas City oil refinery explosion. It was a requirement for the TXSG CGSC course I'm in. Took me about two days to get through it, and include taking 13 pages of notes. It's obviously written from a safety expert's biased viewpoint, but as usual it was a series of mistakes that killed 15, injured nearly 200 and cost BP billions of dollars.

    I doubt Beirut has any kind of oversight which could have prevented it, like Chernobyl.

    But it scares me to think how many other shitholes I've been to or will be going to that have had similar circumstances where a similar event could happen.

    Better lucky then good, I guess...
     

    oldag

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    Feb 19, 2015
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    Just finished Andrew Hopkins' Failure to Learn about the 2005 Texas City oil refinery explosion. It was a requirement for the TXSG CGSC course I'm in. Took me about two days to get through it, and include taking 13 pages of notes. It's obviously written from a safety expert's biased viewpoint, but as usual it was a series of mistakes that killed 15, injured nearly 200 and cost BP billions of dollars.

    I doubt Beirut has any kind of oversight which could have prevented it, like Chernobyl.

    But it scares me to think how many other shitholes I've been to or will be going to that have had similar circumstances where a similar event could happen.

    Better lucky then good, I guess...
    BP inherited that plant when they bought Amoco some time ago. Amoco never had a good safety attitude/culture.

    The TC Amoco plant had many small incidents/explosions for decades.

    No one who knew TC was shocked.
     
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