news of the week J U N E 24, 201 3 EDITED BY CRAIG BETTENHAUSEN & NADER HEIDARI
CHEMICAL ACCIDENTS: Back-to-back
chemical facility accidents on the Gulf Coast raise safety concerns
A
DAY APART, two chemical plant accidents in
and new procedures are added that are unfamiliar to operators. Problems are unlikely if rigorous process safety management standards are followed, Crowl stresses. However, the flood of cheap natural gas feedstock from shale is leading to a potentially overwhelming boom in petrochemical plant construction and expansion in the U.S. “It can become a conflict in priorities for plant operators,” he notes. In May, the American Chemistry Council, a chemical industry trade association, counted 97 planned expansions resulting from the feedstock boom, representing a total investment of $71.7 billion. The U.S. Gulf Coast will see most of the construction activity, and much
Louisiana killed three workers and left many more injured. The incidents on June 13 and 14 raise worries that a rapidly growing number of petrochemical facility expansions over the next several years could lead to similar tragedies. The blasts also pile on to the investigatory burden of the already overtaxed Chemical Safety & Hazard Investigation Board (CSB). The first explosion killed two workers at the Williams Cos. ethylene plant in Geismar on the morning of June 13. The cause is still unknown. While a massive fire raged, 300 workers were evacuated and 73 of them were taken to area hospitals. At the CF Industries nitrogen fertilizer plant in Donaldsonville, 10 miles from the Williams facility, one worker was killed and seven were injured in the early evening of June 14 when a temporary distribution manifold ruptured during off-loading of nitrogen gas. Both plants were undergoing extensive work when the accidents occurred. The CF explosion took place in an ammonia unit that was shut down for maintenance. And at Williams, a $400 million expansion was underway to increase ethylene capacity by 50%. CSB is just beginning to examine what triggered the Williams accident, and investigators are unsure whether the expansion played a direct role, says Daniel of it may be done by contract workers unfamiliar with M. Horowitz, the board’s managing director. chemical safety procedures. An examination of many of CSB’s 73 investigations CSB’s Horowitz notes that the overall frequency of finds that plant accidents frequently occur during chemically related plant accidents appears to be growprocess shutdowns, start-ups, and overhauls. For exing and is stretching the board’s resources, which have ample, an explosion at Bayer CropScience’s Charlesremained flat for the past decade. The board is curton, W.Va., plant killed two workers in rently investigating 15 large accidents. August 2008 after the installation of new “It has been extremely difficult, vergprocess control equipment. An accident ing on impossible, for us to start work on “It has been at BP’s Texas City, Texas, refinery killed 15 extremely new accidents,” he says. In the Williams workers in March 2005 during the startcase, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chair difficult, up of an octane-boosting isomerization of the Senate committee that oversees the verging on unit. board, contacted CSB seeking updates as impossible, Transitions are always difficult at the investigation of the accident moves chemical plants, notes Daniel A. Crowl, a for us to start ahead. But “because of our caseload, there process safety expert and chemical engiwas nothing we could do on CF,” Horowitz work on new neering professor at Michigan Tech. They notes. “We have investigators traveling accidents.” are an “opportunity for accidents,” he all over the country doing investigation —DANIEL M. HOROWITZ, says, as new equipment is put into service CSB MANAGING DIRECTOR interviews.”—ALEX TULLO & JEFF JOHNSON CEN.ACS.ORG
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JUNE 24, 2013
RYAN MEADOR/AP
TWO PLANT BLASTS KILL THREE PEOPLE
A fire raged for hours after the Williams plant explosion.
