INSTITUTE, W.Va. -- Bypassing important safety systems "became the norm" in a Bayer CropScience Institute plant chemical-making unit that blew up and killed two workers last August, federal investigators said Thursday.
"This could have been going on for years," said John Bresland, chairman of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board.
Bresland said the explosion and fire in Bayer's Methomyl-Larvin unit was "certainly avoidable" if the company had followed proper and accepted safety practices.
"The explosion at Bayer was a very serious and tragic event that could have had additional grave consequences," Bresland said, reading from a prepared statement.
Bresland and his investigators blamed "significant lapses" in plant safety systems for the explosion. The blast came close to damaging a nearly methyl isocyanate tank "the results of which might have been catastrophic for workers, responders and the public," Bresland said....read more here.
U.S. Attorney Charles T. Miller stated his office was going to look into the explosion, after Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper referred the matter to prosecutors. One has to wonder if this will play out to the same conclusion, as did the Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Co. (See Monday's post.)
Reading through the list of safety violations that look to have taken place over years, a few things stand out - inadequately trained employees, routine 12- and 18-hour work days, and the practice of consistently bypassing safety devices.
It all seems to have been done in the name of increased productivity. While I realize that production is what pays the bills in a company, this kind of tunnel vision to the exclusion of safety isn't productive. An effective safety culture can produce measurable increases in productivity according to operational priorities without the risks.
As always comments are welcome.
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