oil refinery explosion

[thephatkid]

this is crazy check out the article 14 dead and 100 injured gas prices may go up again
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=609680

[LaramieSkiBum]

systems used to increase the octane of gas have a very thin line to ride between efficiency and disaster. That being said the industry has a very good safety record, you only hear about the disasters. I just finished up a section in my controls class and went over the statistics. I can't remember the exact numbers, but a person working as an operator or mechanic in refinerys has a much much safer job than you might think.

[ill-advised strategy]

Maybe they just weren't calibrated for special wildlife refuge oil

[Svengali]

or that "Food for Oil" stuff!

[LaramieSkiBum]

lol

from the latest reports the area of the plant that exploded was under a shutdown for maintance - some one will be reviewing their shutdown check list :-(

[SkiingBear]

Unfortunately, accidents like this are all too common during start-up and shut-down. Most of the time they get lucky and avoid an accident on this scale, but there's often a close call. Check-list or not, you cannot predict how everything will respond when being shut down. One of the refineries that i work in showed me pics from last year where they blew up a heater (unexpectedly of course) sending flames 300-400 feet into the air. Luckily it went off at night with nobody around, and the only injury recorded was one case of smoke-inhalation from fighting the fire. These accidents only make national news when the death toll exceeds 8-10 people. If you do a little more reading on this BP accident, you'll find that 2 people died in that refinery in Sept from a super-heated steam release.

Refineries are, in essence, a city block sized bomb. While full-plant shut-downs are the biggest danger, refineries are often shutting down a single-unit to perform some sort of unexpected maintenance. BP is incredibly lucky that the accident didn't set off any other units starting a chain reaction.

I just finished up a section in my controls class and went over the statistics. I can't remember the exact numbers, but a person working as an operator or mechanic in refinerys has a much much safer job than you might think.

This statement reminds me so much of college when my professors were spewing the same shit to my class...don't want to scare the Chem E's away from the refining industry. I wish that statement was true. I spend 50% of my time in refineries and gas plant (gas plants are only marginally safer). I don't know of many other work environments where turning the wrong valve or bumping the wrong line can result in 15 deaths. The general atmosphere in the refineries is safety, safety, safety...(whisper: get it done). They love to spew about their safety record and safety programs in place, but it generally boils down to getting it done now, no matter what it takes.

RIP to the 15 that died, and prayers for their families. Sad to see things like this happening all so an exec can make a few extra dollars. Even worse to see the industry use it as an excuse to raise prices and make more money.