West, Texas Fertilizer Fire and Explosion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROrpKx3aIjA

The youtube video thats spreading like wild fire, no pun intended on youtube if nobody has seen it yet, it shows the plant blowing up.

 

In one of the videos, the cameraman mentions something about someone jumping out of a window just prior to the explosion. The one with the daughter yelling 'get out of here'.

 

My heart goes out to each and every person who suffers or suffers loss from this tragic event and I mean that having experienced explosions in plants myself and fully understand the longterm suffering for families and individuals that will probably continue to suffer the injuries and burns far into the future.

I am also a bit amazed to see the pictures in the above and went to google earth for closer looks and find this facility to be wholly lacking in standards of safety in that there is not one tank bermed according to OSHA standards made common many years ago for the large rusty looking tank and a closer look at all the bullets(a type of tank) on the premise are likewise lacking in the berming required which can only indicate this to be one of those rural individual companies who saw themselves as immune to following the rules and guidelines that all other businesses are expected to follow and live by. The berming is required to prevent nearby contaminaton, flooding, fire and any other type of complication that results from a spill or fire. It seems that so many things here are openly conflicting with safety standards concerning locations of dangerous stored material in proximity to schools and public housing. Even the short bullet tanks that are to the south are not showing any signs of being properly bermed from each other when used for storage. The tall white tanks should be individually bermed from each other. Berms must be large enough to contain the totality of a spill from the tank it is designed around. Perhaps someone with better eyes than mine can see those things but I cannot so I am afraid of how easily the mayhem could be great from even the smallest mistakes on this property. Just my personal views of what I am seeing.

 

Interesting post VG. Learn a little more about you in increments. Would be interested to hear about the explosion story. That must have been terrifying.... Have to go into a lot of different industrial areas where the potential for catastrophic failure is a real issue. ..Pity some of the guys who have to work in such dangerous enviro's.
Notice you are short of periods. And I use them excessively... I'll give you some:.....

 

Very interesting post, Victor. Thanks.

 

Sorry about my writing Poppy. I will try to remember to keep from writing like you describe me. It is because a jumble of thoughts often escape in some kind of mental explosion, very hard to control with appropriate punctuation. The lady has threatened me over this very issue. I would fix what is broken but it is hard to fix mental things with baling wire now that everyone has switched to twine bails.

 

Victor,

I believe that you are way off about berming, especially concerning OSHA(I believe the recommend bearming, but do not require it), more likely any berming at all would fall under the EPA.

Would you care to cite the relevant statutes from either OSHA or the EPA.

 

You are quite right Takao I was way off in that instead of citing OSHA, I should have cited OSHA, EPA along with the state's requirements about berming tanks. I meant to infer that standard safety that is up to date would meet all those requirements in any or most up to date states. I am not a legal writer or lawyer but I spent enough of my time in plants building berms to know that the laws are by now quite old and do require those things.......whom so ever is the appropriate regulating body.

 

My thoughts go to all those who suffered from this . :S!

 

Apparently berms are not...
http://www.rtknet.org/db/rmp/rmp.php?facility_id=100000135597&database=rmp&detail=3&datype=T

 

My mind goes back to Flixborough in the UK in eightees or seventies...Unfortunately it is not always possible have these units away from built up areas never mind small towns etc..purely for the workforce angle never mind the utilities and natural needs of the unit...I grew up in the shadow of Stanlow, One of Europe's biggest refineries and associated chemical and industrial works around it...Never mind the smell...the danger unknown to us was and still is tremendous.

 

Takao you have followed some of the press releases that falsely named this an anhydrous ammonia facility but it markets itself as a storage facility for a form of ammonium nitrates.....nitrates being the key word here which brings to mind explosives.....which also brings to mind the strict ways it must be stored according to Project Safety Management practices(OSHA) that must be conducted to ascertain the site-specific practices that must be followed. It would be counter productive for anyone to try to surmise what rules apply as it is a site-specific analysis that will include distances from such items as control rooms, sales offices, housing, schools etc. The other part of OSHA that applies is the "prudent" practices which causes OSHA to possibly require many things out of their reach such as NAFSA rules, as well as ATF rules. I am not interested in arguing what most companies determine by hiring experts in those specialty areas to advise them. Here is an interesting assessment:http://rt.com/op-edge/texas-fertilizer-explosion-reasons-070/

 

If you look at the facility on google earth or just the pictures in this thread, it appears to be a plant by loose definition, as it is located along a railway access switch, has a variety of loading and unloading methods and seems to have the credentials of an incorporated entity in the wiki I will supply. Whether they manufacture or store vast quantities may be significant, however both are regulated by the overlap of the regulating entities as I explained. Here is a wiki describing the company. Perhaps at one time it was a grain elevator, hence its near acceptance by the community however the current listed product is fertilizer. I find no indication of co-op status but I may have not found the necessary information. It is listed as you will see as a manufacturing facility with the state of Texas, OK? You can't be manufacturing and then choose to follow safety as only a storage facility in my understanding....however I am not a lawyer, so I don't know it all!! You can also follow a theory of interpretation that no one has to follow OSHA, EPA, .....and others believe you do not have to ever pay taxes as well.....I am not prepared to argue those fine points so this is my last posting on this matter. http://www.corporationwiki.com/Texas/West/adair-grain-inc/36542288.aspx

 

We used to have the ability to vote on the awesomeness of a thread. I miss being able to vote. Give me a purple finger, or give me death. [not really]
Love the VG. Could really feel you in the above.... VG is a thread in the fabric[blanket] that is ww2f.