Hazards to People and Plant, Part 1

摘要

From three incidents noted here, culled from inquiry reports, it is clear that both the human factor and equipment reliability call for close examination in anticipation of the next disaster. Milford Haven UK Refinery. In a previous column, I referred to an electrical storm in 1994 at the Milford Haven U.K. refinery that severely crippled the plant instrumentation. Among the large number of displays that swamped the operators was one that wrongly indicated that a vessel outlet valve was open. Five hours later, 20 metric tons of trapped liquid hydrocarbon were released and turned into a fireball. Knowledge that the valve was stuck closed could have helped to avert this disaster. No casualties were reported. BP's Texas City Refinery. On March 23, 2005, an explosion at BP's Texas City refinery killed 15 workers and injured 180 others in the worst U.S. industrial accident in more than a decade.