No perfect solutions

摘要

In a past life, I covered industrial engineering applications and technology, and I did my share of heavy industry plant tours during that time. One particular tour that sticks out in my mind was at a hydrochloric acid processing plant. I drove up to the facility with a colleague for a two-hour tour to showcase some new process automation systems that had just been installed at the plant. The sign on the road by the plant entrance showed how many days it had been since someone was injured, and we watched the safety video in the guest waiting room before our tour guide came to give us our hard hats and goggles and escort us into the facility. As we walked through the plant to the area where the process control rooms were located, I could see acid leaking from pipes and puddles around some of the pumps, which our tour guide warned us not to step in ... "That'll burn a hole right through your shoes," he said. I wondered to myself, and still do, "Why do we even need hydrochloric acid? Isn't there a better, safer, way to accomplish whatever we're using it for?"