Longford incident

Analysis of Esso Longford as well as analysis in the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation report into petrochemical complex major incidents all show that common underlying causes are often repeated. The Longford incident clearly illustrates the multiple root cause concept. A number of PSM system failures occurred either in... 

The Royal Commission into the Longford incident ruled that operator error is not an adequate explanation for major accidents and front-line operators must be provided with appropriate supervision and backup from technical experts [4] — i.e. the responsibilities and accountabilities expected of the chemical engineer. The practising chemical engineers were seen as having a responsibility for the operators performance and hence the impact of plant and production on the wider community. 

Elsewhere, the gas plant explosion in Longford, Australia (Lessons from Longford ) is an example of a major incident in which organisational changes and a lack of skills or knowledge led to errors that contributed to the incident. 

In addition to reducing performance efficiency, the employment of operators with substandard competence levels within safety-critical systems can have grave consequences. For example, a review of major accidents in the hazardous industries indicated that a lack of operator skills and/or knowledge led to the errors that contributed to the accidents analyzed (Wright et al., 2003). Wright et al. (2003) also referred to the Southall rail crash, the Piper Alpha oil rig disaster, the Longford Esso Gas plant explosion, and the Hickson Welch fire as examples of incidents where staff incompetence played a part and where staff competency levels were not sufficiently tested by the organizations involved. 

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