Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center, Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, MS-3122, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3122, USA.
Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center, Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, MS-3122, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3122, USA.
J Hazard Mater. 2016 May 5;308:164-72. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2016.01.039. Epub 2016 Jan 18.
In West, Texas on April 17, 2013, a chemical storage and distribution facility caught fire followed by the explosion of around 30 tons of ammonium nitrate while the emergency responders were trying to extinguish the fire, leading to 15 fatalities and numerous buildings, businesses and homes destroyed or damaged. This incident resulted in devastating consequences for the community around the facility, and shed light on a need to improve the safety management of local small businesses similar to the West facility. As no official report on the findings of the incident has been released yet, this article first investigates the root causes of the incident, and presents a simplified consequence analysis. The article reviews the regulations applicable to this type of facility and recommended emergency response procedures to identify gaps between what happened in West and the current regulations, and discusses how the current regulations could be modified to prevent or minimize future losses. Finally, the federal response that followed the incident until the publication of this paper is summarized.
2013 年 4 月 17 日，在美国德克萨斯州西部的一家化学品储存和配送设施发生火灾，随后约 30 吨硝酸铵爆炸，当时紧急救援人员正在试图扑灭大火，导致 15 人死亡，大量建筑物、企业和住宅被摧毁或损坏。这一事件给设施周围的社区造成了毁灭性的后果，并凸显出需要改善类似于西部设施的当地小企业的安全管理。由于目前尚未发布关于该事件调查结果的官方报告，本文首先调查了该事件的根本原因，并提出了简化的后果分析。本文回顾了适用于此类设施的法规和建议的应急响应程序，以确定西部事件与当前法规之间的差距，并讨论如何修改当前法规以防止或最小化未来损失。最后，总结了该事件发生后直至本文发表时联邦政府的应对措施。
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