Texas City explosion

Making metrics public can be an especially powerfiil way of maintaining upper management s commitment since the CEO or other senior managers are likely to be called to account by the public if goals are not met or performance declines. BP America maintains a Web site describing the company s commitment to process safety as well as links to reports and other information on the 2005 Texas City explosion (BP Web site). 

CSHIB. (2005) Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board Preliminary Findings on the BP Americas Texas City Explosion. October 27, available from www.chemsafety.gov. 

The ammonium nitrate involved in the Texas City explosion was brown in color and in small pellets or grains about the size of medium grains of sand. It was packed in six-ply moisture-proof paper bags, two of which were impregnated with some material, apparently an asphaltic compound. 

One of the consequences of the Texas City explosion that occurred in 2005 is that OSHA came under criticism for not conducting inspections of refineries thoroughly enough or frequently enough. In response to this criticism, OSHA has implemented a National Emphasis Program (NEP) for refineries. The agency has since expanded this program to cover chemical plants. 

Operating personnel may also be expected to work longer hours without sufficient breaks. (This was a factor in the 2005 Texas City explosion.)... 

The reports may, on occasion, suggest a new paradigm for managing safety in the industry covered. Examples of such paradigm shifts occurred in The Cullen Report and Piper Alpha in 1990 and The Baker Report and the Texas City explosion in 2007. 

Rescue workers search through the debris after the 1947 Texas City explosion (Photo used with permission of Moore Memorial Library, and the City of Texas City, USA)... 

The standard was significantly upgraded following the Texas City explosion (2005). It also incorporates comments from OSHA (including citations from their National Emphasis Program) and lessons learned from other explosions. 

AU of the people who died in the 2005 Texas City explosion were working in temporary buildings that were located adjacent to process equipment. Following that event, a much stricter attitude to the use of such buildings became industry wide. 

The Texas City explosion is but one of many examples of dramatic workplace accidents that engulfed the country during the later stages of the Laissez Faire Revival, a few of which are described in Box 8.1. In addition to the dramatic loss of life and limb that attended catastrophic accidents, the workplace extracted a less dramatic daily toll on workers who were maimed by repetitive stress injuries and poisoned by toxic dusts and chemicals as related in Box 8.2. 

An appreciation of the explosive potential of ammonium nitrate. Shipping it from Texas City is forbidden. 

In addition to these formal studies of human error in the CPI, almost all the major accident investigations in recent years, for example, Texas City, Piper Alpha, the Phillips 66 explosion, Feyzin, Mexico City, have shown that human error was a significant causal factor at the level of design, operations, maintenance or the management of the process. 

This third explosion was too much for tlie people of Texas City, who had responded efficiently to the initial two blasts. Hundreds were forced to leave the city, letting the fire bum itself out. The series of explosions luid killed approximately 500 people and seriously injured 1000 otliers. The final deatli toll iiuiy ha e been as high as 1000 because the dock area contained a large population of migrant workers without permanent address or known relatives. It was reported tliat tliis disaster probably was caused by careless smoking aboard tlie Grandcamp. 

SS Grandcamp and Monsanto Chemical Co. (spontaneous ignition caused fire and explosion), Texas City, TX, 67 million ( 430 million, 1993) [5]... 

Texas City, TX, USA, Refinery, Explosion/Fire Failure of piping elbow in process unit. 

Event 4 Explosion—Unknown chemicals. BP Refinery, Texas City, Texas (March 23, 2005). 15 people killed and more than 100 wounded (CBS News 2006). 

Event 7 Moored Ship Fire/Explosion—Ammonium nitrate. SS Grandcamp, Texas City, Texas (April 16, 1947). More than 560 killed and 2,000 injured (Texas City Firefighters Local 1259 2008). 

CBS News. 2006. The explosion at Texas City. October 26. www.cbsnews.com/ stories/2006/10/26/60minutes/main2126509.shtml (accessed April 27, 2008). 

A second explosion occurred in a chemical plant in Texas City, Texas, some years later, and this was called the Texas City Disaster 11. This explosion occurred when a distillation column used to purify butadiene from other C4 hydrocarbons was operating improperly and... 

Grandcamp Explosion. An explosion of 2300 tons of Ammonium Nitrate (AN) fertilizer, which cook place aboard the SS Grandcamp on April 16, 1947, while the ship was being loaded in the harbor at Texas City, Texas. The explosion was started by a fire in one of the holds As a result of the explosion, a fire developed in one of the holds of the SS High Flier (moored 600 ft away from, ihe Grandcamp), conrg sulfur. This fire spread id one of the holds contg 960 tofts of AN which exploded on April. 17... 

Numerous shipments were made without trouble prior to 16 and 17 April 1947, when a terrible explosion occurred. The SS Grandchamp and the SS Highflyer, both moored in the harbour of Texas City and loaded with FGAN, blew up. As a consequence of these disasters, a series of investigations was started in the USA in an attempt to determine the possible causes of the explosions. At the same time a more thorough study of the explosive properties of ammonium nitrate and its mixtures with organic and inorganic materials was also conducted. The explosion at Texas City had barely taken place when a similar one aboard the SS Ocean Liberty shook the harbour of Brest in France on 28 July 1947. 

R.L.Grant, USBurMines Expl Div Rept 3040-C,446(1947)(Manuf of AN fertilizer of the type that exploded at Texas City) 88) P.F.Macy et al, PATR l658(1947)(Investiga-tion of sensitivity of FGAN to explosion)... 

At Brest, France, a shipload of 6,600,000 lbs of AN exploded on July 28, 1947, killing 21 persons, injuring 100 others and doing major damage for a distance of three miles (Refs 61 78). Another cargo of AN fertilizer (FGAN) (2280 tons) on the SS Grandcamp at Texas City, Texas, detonated on Apr 16, 1947 and set off a series of fires and explosions that... 

Texas, Disaster, Fire Prevention Engrg Bur of Texas, Dallas, Tex The Natl Board of Fire Underwriters, New York(l947) 55 G.Armistead,Jr, "The Ship Explosions at Texas City, Texas, on April 16 and 17, 1947 and their Results", Washington, DC 56)Anon, "The Texas City Disaster , Natl Fire Protection Assoc Quarterly, 41, No 1, July 1947, 25-57 57)Anon, US Coast Guard, "Rept of Interagency Comm on Hazards of Ammonium Nitrate Fertilizer in Transportation on Board Vessels", Part 1(1947)... 

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