BP Refinery Blast: Report receives mixed response

19 May 2005 15:55  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (CNI)--BP’s assessment of the failures that led to the deadly explosion at its Texas City, Texas refinery has received a mixed response.

 

BP issued a report Tuesday blaming the accident on a series of mistakes by its personnel before and during the start-up of an isomerisation process unit.

 

Scott Berger, director of the Center for Chemical Process Safety told CNI the BP report demonstrates “good industry practice.”

 

However, Gary Beevers, Region Six director for the United Steelworkers (USW) labour union, said Thursday: “BP has not taken responsibility for its unsafe design flaws and process safety procedures. Blaming workers does not solve the problem of unsafe conditions in that refinery.”

 

BP’s investigation report faults supervisors and hourly workers in the events leading up to the 23 March explosion that killed 15 contract employees and injured 170 others. The report cites improper supervision and lack of planning as factors in the blast.

 

Berger said: “BP is a reputable company - they’re trying to do the right thing.”

 

On the other hand, BP is acting in its best interest by issuing an interim investigative report relatively quickly after the incident, Berger said. “From a communications perspective, the more information they put out, the less people will speculate what happened.”

 

However, the USW said the management failures that led to the explosion “went far beyond the Texas City refinery to decisions made as far away as BP in London.”

 

Said USW President Leo Gerard: “As a union, we will do everything in our power to ensure that our members who were disciplined by BP are treated fairly, and are not blamed for mistakes made by their supervisors or by higher level BP management.”

 

The USW said it plans to issue its own report on the incident next week.

 

Mark Baxter, director of the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, said the report “is catching people off guard.”

 

Baxter said he does not believe the report could lead to more government regulation of refinery operations. “I think that the industry can police itself.”

 

According to the report, the explosion at the isomerisation unit occurred because unit managers and operators greatly overfilled and overheated the raffinate splitter, a tower that is part of the isomerisation unit. Workers were restarting the unit at the time of the blast.

 

A sudden increase in pressure forced a large volume of hydrocarbon liquid into an adjacent blow-down stack, quickly exceeding its capacity. A resulting vapour cloud was ignited by an unknown source.

 

The report said the use of blow-down stacks to handle hydrocarbon overflow “have been recognised as potentially hazardous for this type of service, and the industry has moved more towards closed relief systems to flare” excess hydrocarbon liquids. The report said the refinery failed to take advantage of opportunities in 1995 and 2002 to modify the system so that a flare system could be used.

 

The report also noted that most of those who died in the blast were in an office trailer within 150 feet of the isomerisation unit. The contract workers were involved in the turnaround of an adjacent unit, the report said. The report said several trailers were too close to the isomerisation unit.

 

“The injured were not notified in advance of the impending start-up, or when hydrocarbons were discharged from the stack,” the report said. “Plans could have been made to move them away before the start-up operation, and the subsequent failure to sound the evacuation alarm at crucial times led to them remaining in place and being exposed to the hazard.”

By: Brian Ford
+1 713 525 2653

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