Phillips Disaster of 1989

Bibliography

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The People Involved

Emergency Plan

BY: ABBY SYMPSON

PER. 3 MR. HALEY

TURNED IN: NOVEMBER 14

Compare and Contrast

The people involved were the employees at the time of the explosion. The first responders was the fire department, and the ambulances that went as soon as they heard.

The emergency management plan is as follows: First you raise the alarm and then proceed to call the fire brigade. If possible then extinguish the flames and control the spill leaks, when it is safe to do so. Then evacuate immediately to the safest area. This was not an assassination.

Events leading up to & Death Toll

Before and after the explosion there was similarities and differences. The similarities being the employees checking properly and not handling the valves properly. The differences would be they are more careful with the chemicals and flammable gasses. Before the employees did not check their equipment properly. The factory was doing well before but after the explosion, the factory business went down tremendously.

The fire brigade putting a fire out.

During the regular maintenance routine, the valves were switched being open and closed. A flammable gas that weighed 85,000 pounds was released through the open valve, leading up to the massive explosion. The death toll was 23 people deaths, and over 300 injured.

The valves has a "on" and "off" switch, it was switched.

Phillips Disaster of 1989

The explosion took place in the Phillips Petroleum Company plant in Pasadena, Texas. Resulting in 23 people dying, and 314 being seriously injured. The explosion was so big, it destroyed the factory.

Safety Measures & Regulations

Chemicals Involved

This is a map showing the areas the explosion effected.

When dealing with this chemicals the safest procedures would be to substitute non- flammable gasses, that will react the same way. The valve needs to be checked often to avoid a hazardous situations. The government regulations state that the valves have to be checked multiple times, and the gasses need to be under control. The factory was not meeting the regulations, and the plant was holding a flammable gas inside. The Phillips disaster was put against 566 willful violations and 9 serious violations. The employees were put at fault because of the lack of process hazard analysis and inadequate standardized operating procedures.

The chemicals involved being a extremely flammable gas, exiting out of the valve. The gas floated in the air and a vapor cloud formed. Then the gas traveled rapidly through the polyethylene plant. Before this the explosion was 2.4 tons of TNT. A total of 6 explosions happened that day because of catastrophic failure.

Health Affects

Environmental Affects

The short term affects of bleeding of the mouth and gum, hair loss, and vomiting. The long term effects causing the body to have convulsions, and headaches, and death. The treatment could be surgeries, and medication.

This is an example of what the flammable gas looked like coming out of the valve.

Short term affects would be the 715.5 million dollars worth of damage, and an additional business loss of their company. The long term affects would be the city going into panic mode, and how the factory was destroyed after the explosion. The explosion was massive and affected many areas. This was not an assassination.

The convulsions, are a symptom of epilepsy.

Medication would be given to have less seizures, and could resulted in many surgeries to help treat the seizures.

The factory was destroyed and took a team to help clean up the area.