At approximately 1:20 p.m. on March 23, 2005, a series of explosions occurred at the BP Texas City refinery during the restarting of a hydrocarbon isomerization unit. Fifteen workers were killed, and 180 others were injured.

a. While the immediate cause of an accident may be a specific action such as overfilling a column, other actions taken days or months earlier may set the scene for the accident. In the case of the Texas City explosion, what are some of these actions?

b. The US Chemical Safety Board has stated that standard measures for injury rates do not necessarily reflect process safety. In the context of the Texas City explosion, what metrics would tell you whether a process is safe? Think of what is measured and what behaviors are rewarded.

c. Please visit the CSB website. The final investigation report may guide your thinking on the accident and its causes.