Facility Siting and the Texas City Incident,What It Means for Our Industry

摘要

Fifteen people lost their lives in the 23 March 2005 Texas City accident. Most of those killedwere in a trailer close to the epicenter of the explosion. None of those who died were operatingpersonnel.Government, industry, and academic groups have each responded to the incident in their ownway. The ultimate impact of how this incident plays out for industry will largely depend on theinteraction, or lack thereof, between these various groups. The author offers his viewpoint,based on his years of working with several of the groups involved, how this interaction is nowplaying out and is likely to play out in the future.The incident also laid out in plain view a number of factors that should be taken into account infacility siting for which, at least in retrospect, there was little in the way of definitive guidanceprovided by the industry's leading facility siting standard, API Recommended Practice 752,"Management of Hazards Associated with Location of Process Plant Buildings".The author will also present a framework for evaluating several of these factors.