2005 — March 23, BP America Refinery Explosion, Texas City TX — 15

— 15  Collette, Mark, et al. “Ten years after a Texas City…” Houston Chronicle, 3-21-2015.

— 15  U.S. Chemical Safety Board. BP America Refinery Explosion (website).

— 15  U.S. CSB. Investigation Report: Refinery Explosion…Fire, BP, Texas City…2005.

 

Narrative Information

 

U.S. CSB: “At approximately 1:20 p.m. on March 23, 2005, a series of explosions occurred at the BP Texas City refinery during the restarting of a hydrocarbon isomerization unit. Fifteen workers were killed and 180 others were injured. Many of the victims were in or around work trailers located near an atmospheric vent stack. The explosions occurred when a distillation tower flooded with hydrocarbons and was overpressurized, causing a geyser-like release from the vent stack.”  (U.S. CSB, BP America Refinery Explosion, Texas City, TX…, “Incident Description.”)

 

Collette et al.: “Investigative findings. “At least 58 workers have died at U.S. refineries[1] since March 23, 2005, nearly the same number as the decade before.[2]

 

“Federal officials have tracked nearly 350 fires at U.S. refineries in the past eight years — about one every week.

 

“Some companies continue to put tents and office trailers in danger zones at refineries, despite recommendations to limit the number of workers in harm’s way.

 

“The death toll in the worst refinery accident since 2005 was higher because nonessential personnel were left in harm’s way. Seven were killed at a Seattle refinery during a maintenance activity that required one operator.

 

“Federal regulators lack hard data to accurately track deaths and monitor safety trends within the industry.” (Collette, Mark, et al. “Ten years after a Texas City…” Houston Chronicle, 3-21-2015.)

 

Sources

 

Collette, Mark, Lise Olsen and Jim Malewitz. “Ten years after a Texas City refinery blast killed 15 and rattled a community, workers keep dying.” Houston Chronicle and The Texas Tribune, 3-21-2015. Accessed 9-27-2015 at: http://www.houstonchronicle.com/texascity/

 

U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. BP America Refinery Explosion (website). Accessed 9-27-2015 at: http://www.csb.gov/bp-america-refinery-explosion/

 

U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. Investigation Report: Refinery Explosion and Fire, BP, Texas City, Texas, March 23, 2005. Wash, DC: CSB Rpt. 2005-04-I-TX, March 2007, 341 p. At: http://www.csb.gov/completed_investigations/docs/CSBFinalReportBP.pdf

 

[1] Notes elsewhere n the article that there are about 140 refineries in the U.S.

[2] Notes elsewhere in article: “There were at least 64 deaths in the 10 years before the accident.”