Fertilizer plant explodes in West, Texas

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Araysar

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30 years since last OSHA inspection?

-_-
 
Falstaff

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I have no idea how OSHA works but Chris Hayes was reporting on his show last night that they don't do inspections unless someone calls in a violation... and that the 1985 inspection resulted in a $30 fine or something ridiculous. That could have been something unrelated just to show how stupidly low the fines are.
 
Caliane

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yeah. osha has little funds, etc.

Greenhouse I worked at. yeah, i think they did show up once? Even then. fertilizer not really addressed. loosing wiring, etc not noted. I think all they did make a note of, was a door between commercial office, and greenhouse being open.
We kept our fert in a cool/dry place. But not locked at all.
 
Eomer

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I can't really comment much on the first two, but I wonder if Maddow even knows what a "firewall" is. Depending on the buildings codes and the type of building, that probably doesn't mean a damn thing. Apartment buildings have dozens of firewalls (each suite would be it's own fire compartment), while massive manufacturing facilities hundreds of thousands of square feet might only have a single fire separation between the warehouse and office areas.

The thing I've found the most surprising is that this place wasn't even a "plant" really. It was a distribution/sales center. So it shouldn't have been a huge risk.
 
T

TecKnoe

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accidental explosion kills 6X more people than marathon bombing.. fertilizer plants > terrorists.
 
OneofOne

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Elurin_sl said:
Jesus. 1350 times the amount of ammonium nitrate that'd need to be reported.

400 lbs is the amount required to be reported. They had 270 tons. Nice.

http://news.yahoo.com/texas-fertiliz...--finance.html
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I don't see how this is more than a side issue. That needs to be reported to the Department of Homeland Security, which would then advise them on how to safely keep it out of the hands of criminals. What would that have done for preventing the accident? At best they might have gotten lucky and solving the one issue may have inadvertently helped with the second /shrug
 
Fogel

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It's an issue because if they reported it like they should have, emergency personnel would have known to not even go near there or at least get in and out as fast as fucking possible. That information could have saved lives, but we'll never know for sure.
 
OneofOne

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Yeah no, I could be wrong since I don't know how the DHS works, but I highly doubt the locals would have known shit about shit.
 
Falstaff

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I imagine their would be some additional requirements for safety/storage if it was known that they had that much.
 
Eomer

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OneofOne_sl said:
Yeah no, I could be wrong since I don't know how the DHS works, but I highly doubt the locals would have known shit about shit.
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Nah, I'm pretty sure any fire department worth a shit keeps an inventory of potentially dangerous buildings/plants so they don't walk in to a dynamite factory without knowing it. Then again, that might make too much sense for Texas.
 
OneofOne

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I'm sure the DHS, the model of bureaucracy that it is, makes sure that all emergency services are aware of local dangers. No doubt, none at all.

Fogel, Caliene, Eomer - read the article before commenting. That quote he put up is very misleading.
 
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Zhaun_sl

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This seems very similar to that outbreak from that Boston-area compounding place that gave people spinal meningitis or whatever it was a year or two ago. They want to make a few extra bucks, so they find ways through lax government regulations, then a bunch of innocent people suffer for it.

How many companies are doing this right now across the country and are literal timebombs waiting to go off? Probably more than we'd like to think about. Yet the constant push for deregulation from certain areas.
 
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