Also, it’s impressive how dramatic the quality increase is between the old videos and the new ones.
Steam explosions are terrifying. Boilers are extremely hazardous things to operate without proper training and supervision.
Air compressors seem to end up with cracks. They'll release air, but don't have the tendency to create a projectile.
You shouldn't worry about that at all. My fathers old machine shop ran on an air compressor manufactured in 1948 and the tank never ruptured in its 50+ years of service. Never mind the myriad of little compressors who's tanks are all that's left after the cheap compressor gave up the ghost (they make nice portable tanks or buffers or toss another compressor on).
0: Earlier edition of same book with awesome cover to get people to understand it's not a super boring textbook at all (in fact it's really not a textbook): http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=83EEA4069C89A895711DEFAD...
1: Latest edition: http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=DC1C71A6B692001AA8FAFACA...
None of these were silly. It takes an extraordinary amount of hard work and collective intelligence to fix these issues.
> failure to label the input pipes for a factory
Labels are not the end solution, no one reads labels unless they want something, anyone in IT should know this. (It's a great dark pattern trick)
That video was a great example video of "Murphy's law" the engineer principle, not the joke. The problem is the solution, different attachments for different fluids goes against the safety of standardization.
I've seen USCSB give advice I would consider incorrect or in question, they suggested locking compound gates. You can be directed to leave them unlocked to allow emergency evacuation in person or by car.
I don't know what's better there, but USCSB needed to also address evacuation safety if they make statements like that.
This stuff is hard and has to be applied to accidents that have not happened. It's a 'Bullshit jobs' mega-machine.
[edit] I have the say the 30 second intro to the "Explosion at the Husky Superior Refinery" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFhkzK7jkKg gave me goosebumps.
That said, it's quite silly indeed that the inlets for two incompatible chemicals that would release toxic fumes if mixed were 18 inches apart, unlabeled, used the exact same connector, and were locked behind the same gate. I don't think it takes extraordinary collective intelligence to see how this could become a problem.
The report for anyone who wants to know more: https://youtu.be/Tflm9mttAAI
I don't recall the compound gate thing but I'd appreciate a link if you have one.
They were labeled.
Same connector - Standardized connectors are safer. Every chemical can't have a different connecter. If the truck swaps connectors in and out per location you are mostly back to square one.
The connectors were locked, that's the differential they choose. Except one wasn't, which is the same issue as the truck swapping connectors. It shouldn't have been possible to have two connectors unlocked at once.
> were locked behind the same gate.
Multiple gates creates other issues.
> 18 inches apart
This the problem, multiple gates a distance apart are an issue, but probably the solution. It also allows clear signage on the gate rather than than the 7 characters you can see on the connector label. I count 5 - 7 connections, they can't all be behind a gate, so there is no hard rule.
> compound gate thing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh2HWT8gPeY
They actually want a 'written' policy to stop people coming in. People ram raid gates to get into compounds so they can't be flimsy. In an emergency power could be out and you can be in a car or running while on fire.
Were they? It says they had labels some distance down the pipe, but they weren't labeled at the point where the hoses connected where someone could actually read it.
> Every chemical can't have a different connecter.
Every chemical doesn't have to have a different connector. Maybe just ones that will cause a dangerous reaction if mixed.
> I count 5 - 7 connections, they can't all be behind a gate, so there is no hard rule.
Sure. Again, a good rule of thumb would be to separate the ones that could cause rapid death.
> They actually want a 'written' policy to stop people coming in.
So no fire code issue then.
The issue is that they're buying chemicals from vendors so they don't necessarily have control of what connectors are on the truck. If you have Bleach in connector A and acid in connector B, you better hope they don't send an acid truck with an A connector.
I think having a way to close the fill lines remotely would have at least seriously downgraded the problem.
I think this one especially is simple enough of an error, and the consequences are so disastrous, that it’s reasonable to find it silly.
That's pretty solvable in IT, just assign full responsibility for fixing the problem to whoever messes up via ignoring the labels.
Obviously in a chemical plant this would be futile in a lot of scenarios. And so much more complex proactive measures are the norm.