CHAPTER 6: MAKING PUBLIC REMARKS

Event: Flixborough Explosion Date: 1 June 1974 Summary: Chemical engineers predominated in a facility that occasionally needed mechanical-engineering expertise. Some repairs had been made, including using dog-leg pipe and substituting pipe with a smaller diameter, which had caused increased pressure. The manufacturing-process included heating gasoline. A vapour cloud ignited, causing an explosionone of the largest petrochemical-plant explosions in history. Debris fell up to 12 miles away. The explosion occurred on a Saturday. Had it occurred during the work week, many more people could have been killed and injured. Half the people on site didnt hear the warning bell, and 80 percent did not hear the public-address warning40 percent heard neither. Some even ran towards the alarm rather than away from it. Local response was hindered by a lack of communication, expertise and coordination. The explosion triggered many local burglar alarms, adding to the confusion. Result: 28 workers killed, 36 injured. Outside the plant there were 53 casualties and hundreds of minor injuries. Damage was about $60 million dollars. Lessons Learned: The need for special expertise, including metallurgical and mechanical, in a chemical facility. The need to coordinate outside response agenciesa lesson learned far too often during 9/11 and in the years after. How human behaviour is unpredictableincluding walking towards, rather than away from, an evacuation alarm.

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an ounce of prevention

chapter 6: maKinG public remarKs

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