1990 ARCO explosion
An explosion at the ARCO Chemical (ACC) Channelview, Texas petrochemical plant killed 17 people and injured five others on July 5, 1990.
In the community of Channelview, ACC operated a petrochemical plant that was the world's largest producer of the fuel additive methyl tert-butyl ether.
On July 5, 1990, employees at the plant were working on restarting a compressor for a 900,000 US gal (3.4-million L) wastewater storage tank at the facility.
The explosion completely destroyed the tank and some of the surrounding facility infrastructure, affecting an area the size of a city block.
[2] These incidents prompted an April 1990 report from Secretary of Labor Elizabeth Dole to President George H. W. Bush that called on the petrochemical industry to develop stronger safety plans to prevent future accidents.
[4] In the Ship Channel community of Channelview, Texas, located several miles east of downtown Houston,[note 1] chemical and plastics company ACC operated a large petrochemical plant.
[6] On July 4, the nitrogen sweeping system was turned off to allow workers to modify some piping and instrumentation,[6] as well as general cleaning of the tank,[5] before restarting the compressor.
[1] The blast was felt by people as far as 8 miles (13 km) away,[15][1] and windows in some nearby homes were reportedly broken from the pressure wave.
[6][1][5] The wastewater storage tank was completely destroyed, with an article in the Los Angeles Times describing it as having been "flattened like a soft drink can crushed in a vise".
[5] They would be the main firefighting force that handled the fires, although additional help would be provided by the hazardous materials units from the Channel Industries Mutual Aid, Merichem, and the Shell Oil Refinery.
[6] Members of the Harris County fire marshal's and medical examiner's offices arrived on the scene following the explosion.
[1] Speaking about the size of the tragedy, ACC Americas President Jack Johnson said, "In my 32 years I can't remember a single incident of this magnitude where we had multiple loss of life".
In a 1990 article of The New York Times, journalist Roberto Suro noted that in the April 1990 report that Labor Secretary Dole had submitted concerning petrochemical plant accidents there were, among other things, recommendations that contracted employees at these facilities be given special safety training.
[4] The Los Angeles Times similarly cited a report by the John Gray Institute of Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, that stated that contract workers received less safety training and were less knowledgeable of workplace hazards than their company employee counterparts.
[2] According to the report, due to economic and time constraints, "safety was frequently cited as a secondary consideration among short-term contractors".
[2] The subject was also a point of discussion in a July 23, 1990, hearing before the United States House Committee on Government Operations on chemical accidents, Representative Tom Lantos stated that, as with some previous incidents, "the contract work force again figures prominently", noting that while 75 percent of the facility's employees were ACC employees, two-thirds of the people killed were contracted workers.
[6] Within 30 days of these reports, the management of each plant would have to provide written statements and would then have no more than one year to implement the changes recommended by these teams.
[6] However, according to Arco Chemical Americas President Johnson, instead of disputing some of OSHA's conclusions, "we decided it served everyone better if we focused on improving safety of our operations".
[6][15] Infrastructure-wise, ACC spent $36 million between July 1990 and January 1991 in repairs and upgrades to the wastewater facilities at the Channelview plant.
[22] Since then, the next biggest industrial disaster to occur in the Greater Houston area was the 2005 Texas City refinery explosion,[23] which killed 15 people and injured 180.
