Phillips 66 Houston Chemical Complex, Texas, 1989
On October 23, 1989, at approximately 1:00 p.m., an explosion and fire ripped through the Phillips 66 Company Houston Chemical Complex in Pasadena, Texas.
1989 Pasadena, TX, Explosion
Twenty-three workers were killed and more than 314 were injured. Property damage was nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars.
The accident resulted from a release of extremely flammable process gases that occurred during regular maintenance operations on one of the plant's polyethylene reactors. The evidence showed that more than 85,000 pounds of highly flammable gases were released through an open valve. A vapor cloud formed and traveled rapidly through the polyethylene plant. Within 90 to 120 seconds, the vapor cloud came into contact with an ignition source and exploded with the force of 2.4 tons of TNT. The conflagration, which is a large and destructive fire, took 10 hours to be controlled.
OSHA determined that the a lack of process hazard analysis (PHA), inadequate standard operating procedures (SOPs), inadequate lockout/tagout procedures were major contributing root-cause system weaknesses for the tragedy. OSHA issued 566 willful and 9 serious violations with a proposed penalty of over $5.6 million. Ultimately, after a settlement, Phillips Petroleum Company paid $4 million in fines and instituted process safety management procedures at a number of its sister facilities.
Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.
1-4. OSHA concluded that the major causes for the Phillips 66 1989 Texas plant explosion were _____.
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