1990 ARCO explosion

1990 explosion in Channelview, Texas, US January 2022 January 2022 Arco Chemical Channelview, Texas explosion 1990 07 05 11:21 p.m. CDT 2502 Sheldon RoadHorswell 2005Channelview, Texas, United States Explosion Build-up of oxygen and hydrocarbon vapors in wastewater tank 29 49 5 N 95 7 20 W region:US-TX_type:event inline-title 17 5 An explosion at the ARCO Chemical (ACC) Channelview, Texas petrochemical plant killed 17 people and injured five others on July 5, 1990. It was one of the deadliest industrial disasters in the history of the Greater Houston area. The land along the Houston Ship Channel is a heavily industrialized area, with numerous oil refineries. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, several large industrial disasters occurred in the area, with the largest being the Phillips disaster of 1989, a refinery explosion that resulted in 23 deaths and over 100 injuries. 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 gal ML on unit wastewater storage tank at the facility. The tank held wastewater that contained hydrocarbons until it could be deposited in a disposal well. Because the hydrocarbons in the tank could vaporize, the tank had an oxygen analyzer that kept track of the oxygen concentration in the tank and had a nitrogen sweep system to keep the gas inert. However, unbeknownst to the employees, the oxygen analyzer had malfunctioned and as a result, the oxygen level in the tank was at a dangerous level. While restarting the compressor, the gas ignited and caused a large explosion. The explosion completely destroyed the tank and some of the surrounding facility infrastructure, affecting an area the size of a city block. Following the accident, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fined ACC about $3.48 million for over 300 violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the largest OSHA fine at the time. Additionally, the company agreed to safety changes at its other three plants in the United States. Damages were estimated to total $100 million; however, ACC spent only $36 million in repairs and upgrades at the Channelview plant including $20 million on safety redundancies. Background Previous industrial accidents in the area alt=A color photograph of a waterway, with a cityscape in the upper right corner|thumb|300x300px|Houston Ship Channel, with downtown Houston in the upper right corner The Houston Ship Channel is a roughly 50 mi km on long waterway that links the Texas city of Houston to Galveston Bay and, ultimately, the Gulf of Mexico.Kennedy 1990 The channel makes up part of the port of Houston, which in 1990 was the third-largest port in the United States.Kennedy 1990 The land on either side of the channel is a heavily industrialized area, with approximately 150 industries in operation there in 1990, including numerous oil refineries.Kennedy 1990 A 1990 article in the Los Angeles Times referred to the area as having "the largest complex of petrochemical plants in the nation", and during the late 1980s and early 1990s, there were several large-scale explosions or disasters at these plants.Kennedy 1990 In October 1989, a refinery in Pasadena, Texas, that was operated by the Phillips Petroleum Company exploded in a disaster that killed 23 people and injured over 100,Holcombe 2019 and two more explosions the following year at different refineries injured a further seven people.Kennedy 1990 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.Suro 1990 Arco Chemical Channelview plant In the Ship Channel community of Channelview, Texas, located several miles east of downtown Houston,note Sources differ slightly on the distance, with given distances of 15 mi km,Rendon 1990 16 mi km,Holcombe 2019 and 20 mi km.Suro 1990 chemical and plastics company ACC operated a large petrochemical plant.Oil & Gas Journal 1991note Arco Chemical was a subsidiary of parent company ARCO, with ARCO having about an 80 percent stake in the company at the time.Los Angeles Times 1987Brooks 1998 The 564 acre ha on plant had been in operation since 1977 and had been acquired by ARCO in 1980.Rendon 1990Horswell 2005 The plant primarily produced petroleum additives and in 1990 was the largest producer of the fuel additive methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) in the world, producing between 25,000 USbbl ML 0 unit and 30,000 USbbl ML unit daily.Petroleum Supply Monthly 1990 xixnote A 1990 article in The New York Times gives a slightly more accurate daily production value of approximately 27,500 USbbl e6l unit.Suro 1990 This resulted in an annual production of approximately 1.7 e9lb t unit of MTBE,Horswell 2005Rendon 1990 equivalent to approximately 25 percent of the United States's total MTBE production.Petroleum Supply Monthly 1990 xix Additionally, the plant annually produced about 560 e6lb t unit of propylene oxide and 1.3 e9lb t unit of styrene monomer.note These two values are given in 1990 articles of AP News and the Houston Chronicle.Horswell 2005Rendon 1990 However, a 1990 article in The New York Times gives slightly different values of 600 e6lb e6kg unit of propylene oxide and 1.4 e9lb e6kg unit of styrene monomer.Suro 1990 The plant around this time employed about 350 ACC employees,note Several sources state that the plant employed 350 ARCO employees,Rendon 1990Suro 1990 while a 1990 article in the Houston Chronicle gave the number as about 400.Horswell 2005 in addition to about 150 contractors from Austin Industrial, Inc., a Houston-based contracting firm,Suro 1990 and had a total annual payroll of about $20 million.Horswell 2005 From taking over the plant in 1980 until 1990, ARCO had been cited twice by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for minor violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act.Mokhiber 1990 On the northwestern edge of the plant,Horswell 2005 in a remote utility area,Suro 1990 was a 900,000 gal ML unit on storage tank, measuring about 40 ft m tall and 62 ft m in diameter,Labor Press Service 1991 5 that temporarily stored wastewater from the plant's propylene oxide and styrene monomer operations.Oil & Gas Journal 1991 After treatment, this liquid was transferred to an on-site disposal well.Oil & Gas Journal 1991Fortun 2001 274 The wastewater, which was held in the tank at atmospheric pressure,Oil & Gas Journal 1991 usually contained some hydrocarbon liquids that would result in hydrocarbon vapor and oxygen building up in the vapor space of the tank.Oil & Gas Journal 1991 To prevent these vapor levels from reaching dangerous levels, the tank had an oxygen analyzer that provided a continuous readout of the oxygen level in the tank, and excessive oxygen and hydrocarbon vapor could be purged through a nitrogen sweep system.Oil & Gas Journal 1991 A compressor would move this vapor to a pressurized tank where it would be scrubbed before being vented to the atmosphere.Oil & Gas Journal 1991 Throughout early 1990, this compressor required additional maintenance, and it had been out of service for 41 percent of the year.Fortun 2001 275 In late June 1990, this compressor stopped working, and ARCO removed the piece of equipment and began venting the vapor from the tank to the open atmosphere, which had been the standard method of vapor disposal practiced at the plant before scrubbing was introduced as part of an environmental upgrade to the facility.Oil & Gas Journal 1991 On July 4, the nitrogen sweeping system was turned off to allow workers to modify some piping and instrumentation,Oil & Gas Journal 1991 as well as general cleaning of the tank,Rendon 1990 before restarting the compressor.Oil & Gas Journal 1991 The system had been turned off only after the oxygen analyzer showed safe levels of oxygen within the tank.Oil & Gas Journal 1991Fortun 2001 275 The following day, July 5, the compressor was to be restarted.Horswell 2005 At the time, there were several dozen people working the night shift at the facility,note Sources vary on the exact number, with a 1990 article in the Houston Chronicle stating that 50 people were working at the time,Horswell 2005 while a 1990 article in The New York Times gives a number of 65 workers.Suro 1990 with five working in the immediate area of the tank.Horswell 2005 However, the number of people in the area was larger than usual due to the cleaning of the tanks.Rendon 1990 Explosion At 11:21 p.m. CDT,note Sources vary on the exact time of the explosion. The time given here is the one given in a report published by the United States Department of Labor.Labor Press Service 1991 5 The New York Times and the Associated Press both state that the explosion occurred around 11:30 p.m.Rendon 1990Suro 1990 However, the Houston Chronicle and the United Press International both give an exact time of 11:20 p.m.Horswell 2005United Press International 1990 Meanwhile the Oil & Gas Journal states that it occurred "just before midnight".Oil & Gas Journal 1991 an explosion occurred when the compressor for the wastewater tank was being restarted.Gonzales 2015 The explosion resulted in a large flame that rose at least 100 ft m over the Houston Ship Channel,Gonzales 2015Horswell 2005note One source states the flame rose 200 ft m.Kennedy 1990 resulting in large plumes of black smoke.Horswell 2005 The blast was felt by people as far as 8 mi km away,Gonzales 2015Horswell 2005 and windows in some nearby homes were reportedly broken from the pressure wave.Horswell 2005 At the facility, an area of roughly one city block was severely damaged by the explosion.Oil & Gas Journal 1991Horswell 2005Rendon 1990 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".Kennedy 1990 The explosion within the tank had been so powerful that the 48,000 lb t on lid of the tank had been blown off and landed in a parking lot about 200 yd -1 away.Labor Press Service 1991 5 Additionally, another nearby 15,000 gal kL on tank was blown 200 ft -1 into a pipe rack.Labor Press Service 1991 5 Along with the two tanks and the main pipe rack, the explosion also seriously damaged a cogeneration facility and two cooling towers.Horswell 2005 However, the blast did not affect the MTBE facilities at the plant.Petroleum Supply Monthly 1990 xix Emergency response In the immediate aftermath, authorities described the incident as relatively minor, with no reports of any injuries.Rendon 1990 Shortly after the blast, the facility's fire brigade began putting out the fires that had resulted from the explosion.Rendon 1990 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.Horswell 2005 Most of the fires had been put out by 4 a.m. the next morning, with smaller fires completely put out by 5 a.m.Horswell 2005 According to company officials, the explosion did not result in any leakage of hazardous materials,Suro 1990 and no area evacuation was issued, although traffic was rerouted away from the facility.Horswell 2005 After the fires were put out, the plant's main operations were shut down,Horswell 2005 including the MTBE operations.Petroleum Supply Monthly 1990 xix The plant was expected to be shut down for several months as it underwent repairs.Petroleum Supply Monthly 1990 xix The shutdown affected approximately 15 percent of the total production of styrene in the United States.Oil & Gas Journal 1991 Members of the Harris County fire marshal's and medical examiner's offices arrived on the scene following the explosion.Horswell 2005 While initial reports from company authorities had stated that there had been no injuries,Rendon 1990 there had in fact been several injuries and multiple deaths from the disaster.Horswell 2005 The fire marshal's office assisted in body recovery, and by 11 a.m. the next morning, 14 bodies had been found, with two people believed to have been in the plant at the time unaccounted for.Horswell 2005 Through the day, this number would rise to 15 dead and one unaccounted for.Rendon 1990 By July 6, the final count had 17 people killed and five injured.Rendon 1990Gonzales 2015Mokhiber 1990 Of the dead, five were Arco Chemical employees and eleven were Austin Industrial employees.Mokhiber 1990Rendon 1990Suro 1990 Additionally, a truck driver was found dead in the cabin of his vacuum truck.Rendon 1990 He was an employee for Waste Processing, Inc., which had been contracted to help with maintenance work.Mokhiber 1990Suro 1990 Some of the injured were hospitalized at the nearby San Jacinto Methodist Hospital in Baytown, Texas.Horswell 2005 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".Horswell 2005 Aftermath Investigation and cause of the explosion On the morning of July 6,Rendon 1990 Gerard F. Scannell, an Assistant Secretary in the United States Department of Labor and head of OSHA, arrived at the scene, saying he would ensure "that all necessary resources of the Labor Department and OSHA are made available for a complete and timely investigation of this workplace tragedy".Horswell 2005 Specifically, Scannell stated that OSHA would be reviewing work orders and interviewing people from the plant to determine if the maintenance work that was being conducted at the wastewater storage tank had contributed to the explosion.Suro 1990 At the time, authorities were not completely sure if the compressor had caused the explosion.Horswell 2005Kennedy 1990 OSHA concluded their initial review of the site within a week.United Press International 1990 By January 1991, according to an article in the Oil & Gas Journal, investigators were "95% sure" regarding the cause and timeline of events regarding the explosion.Oil & Gas Journal 1991 According to OSHA investigators, the oxygen analyzer in the wastewater tank had malfunctioned on June 15, 1990, resulting in a reduction in the nitrogen purging and a steady buildup of oxygen in the tank that reached dangerous levels.Oil & Gas Journal 1991 This was further intensified during the maintenance work performed on July 4 and 5, when the nitrogen system was temporarily shut down.Oil & Gas Journal 1991 As a result, energy from some normal operation around the tank (such as the compressor restarting) provided enough energy to ignite the vapor and cause the explosion.Oil & Gas Journal 1991 Use of contracted employees Several contemporary sources also noted the use of contracted labor in discussions of the explosion. 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.Suro 1990 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.Kennedy 1990 According to the report, due to economic and time constraints, "safety was frequently cited as a secondary consideration among short-term contractors".Kennedy 1990 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.Employment and Housing Subcommittee of the Committee on Government Operations 1991 3 The Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union (OCAW, a labor union representing petrochemical workers) similarly criticized the use of contracted labor at the facility, with Secretary-Treasurer Tony Mazzocchi saying, "There is a direct association between the lack of preventive maintenance, the substitution of contract labor for skilled, permanent union labor and this accident. The contractors were probably working more than 16 hours straight when [the tank] exploded."Mokhiber 1990 Similarly, in a July 8 article by United Press International, the wife of one of the contracted workers killed in the explosion said he had been working 16-hour shifts and had worked 86 hours the week before the incident.United Press International 1990 Some of the contracted workers who were working on the tank had been on the job since 7 a.m. and had been working until the explosion, past the legally-mandated quitting time of 11 p.m.Fortun 2001 275 The president of the OCAW local union in Houston made comments similarly linking the explosion to the use of contracted labor.Schwartz 1990 However, a vice president of ARCO dismissed the connection, saying, "The focus on contract workers is unfortunate. It doesn't address the problem."Schwartz 1990 At the time of the accident, approximately half of the petrochemical workers in the United States were non-union contract workers.Kennedy 1990 Legal settlements and changes from the company U.S. and Texas officials opted not to criminally prosecute ACC for the deaths.Mokhiber 1990 However, on January 3, 1991, ACC agreed to pay $3,481,300 in fines levied by OSHA for violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act no later than January 10.Oil & Gas Journal 1991Mokhiber 1990 OSHA had fined the company $10,000 for each of the 347 "willful" violations (wherein the company intentionally disregarded or was indifferent to the requirements in the Occupational Safety and Health Act) and a further $11,300 for 15Labor Press Service 1991 2 "serious" violations (wherein the company operated while knowing of a serious probability of an accident that could cause injuries or death).Oil & Gas Journal 1991Mokhiber 1990 At the time, it was the largest monetary settlement in OSHA history.Oil & Gas Journal 1991Labor Press Service 1991 1 Other terms of the agreement stipulated that ACC would organize a "process hazard analysis staff" for each of its four U.S. facilities (including the Channelview facility) within 30 days, which would then conduct process hazard analyses and report their findings to their respective OSHA regional offices within 270 days.Oil & Gas Journal 1991 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.Oil & Gas Journal 1991 ARCO, in agreeing to the settlement with OSHA, stated that it did not affirm the accuracy of OSHA's investigation and conclusions regarding the conduct and operations at the plant.Oil & Gas Journal 1991 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".Oil & Gas Journal 1991 In addition to the OSHA fines, the company faced lawsuits from the families of several of the deceased workers.United Press International 1990Deseret News 1990 In total, damages from the explosion were approximately $100 million.Gonzales 2015Dixon Gullo Raheja 2018 417 In addition to the fines and mandated changes, ACC agreed to revamp safety measures regarding safety training and management at all four facilities in the United States.Oil & Gas Journal 1991Gonzales 2015 Infrastructure-wise, ACC spent $36 million between July 1990 and January 1991 in repairs and upgrades to the wastewater facilities at the Channelview plant.Oil & Gas Journal 1991 Of that amount, $20 million was spent on adding system safety redundancies.Oil & Gas Journal 1991 For example, the upgrades resulted in a change in the number of wastewater storage tanks increasing from three to eight, an increase in the number of oxygen analyzers from one to sixteen, and the installation of a backup nitrogen supply system that sweeps the tanks on a continuous basis.Oil & Gas Journal 1991 Later history In a 2001 book, anthropologist and professor Kim Fortun discussed the explosion and compared the disaster to the Bhopal disaster, citing similarities between the role that maintenance neglect and inexperienced workers played in the two incidents.Fortun 2001 274 In 2002, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (an independent federal agency that investigates industrial accidents) completed a two-year study on serious chemical accidents that occurred between 1980 and 2000, specifically highlighting the 1990 ARCO explosion as one of the worst in that time period.U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board 2002 The board convened in September of that year in Houston, in part because the Houston area had been home to large-scale disasters like the one in 1990.U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board 2002 Since then, the next biggest industrial disaster to occur in the Greater Houston area was the 2005 Texas City refinery explosion,Axtman 2005 which killed 15 people and injured 180.Holcombe 2019 See also List of disasters in the United States by death toll List of explosions List of industrial disasters Notes note References Sources 30em yes Axtman Kris March 25, 2005 Texas explosion raises concerns about aging refineries The Christian Science Monitor Christian Science Publishing Society https://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0325/p02s01-usgn.html January 13, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20210125033529/https://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0325/p02s01-usgn.html January 25, 2021 0882-7729 Brooks Nancy Rivera June 19, 1998 Lyondell to Acquire Arco Chemical https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-jun-19-fi-61411-story.html January 27, 2022 Los Angeles Times July 8, 1990 Wife's Suit Against ARCO Thwarts Efforts to Probe Cause of Blast 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Raheja Dev John Wiley & Sons 2018 978-1-118-97429-2 Gullo Louis J. 381–422 en Lessons Learned Dixon Jack Employment and Housing Subcommittee of the Committee on Government Operations, House of Representatives 1991 https://books.google.com/books?id=FwQkAAAAMAAJ Adequacy of OSHA Protections for Chemical Workers U.S. Government Printing Office Part 2 101st United States Congress, Second Session Washington, D.C. July 23, 1990 Employment and Housing Subcommittee of the Committee on Government Operations 1991 Fortun Kim https://books.google.com/books?id=SDKmddU8LBcC Advocacy After Bhopal: Environmentalism, Disaster, New Global Orders University of Chicago Press 2001 978-0-226-25718-1 Chicago en Kim Fortun Gonzales Carolina July 6, 2015 25 years later: Looking back at the ARCO explosion in Channelview https://www.chron.com/this-forgotten-day-in-houston/article/25-years-later-Looking-back-at-the-ARCO-6368204.php live https://web.archive.org/web/20220113230421/https://www.chron.com/this-forgotten-day-in-houston/article/25-years-later-Looking-back-at-the-ARCO-6368204.php January 13, 2022 January 13, 2022 Houston Chronicle Hearst Communications en-US Holcombe Madeline March 20, 2019 Now-extinguished Deer Park blaze joins the list of explosions and fires that have rocked the Houston area https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/20/us/deer-park-plant-fire-history/index.html live https://web.archive.org/web/20220113232049/https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/20/us/deer-park-plant-fire-history/index.html January 13, 2022 January 13, 2022 CNN Horswell Cindy March 25, 2005 July 5, 1990 ARCO refinery explosion, fire kill 14 https://www.chron.com/news/article/July-5-1990-ARCO-refinery-explosion-fire-kill-1579698.php live https://web.archive.org/web/20210810182720/https://www.chron.com/news/article/July-5-1990-ARCO-refinery-explosion-fire-kill-1579698.php August 10, 2021 January 13, 2022 Houston Chronicle Hearst Communications en-US Kennedy J. Michael July 7, 1990 17 Die, 5 Hurt in Blast at Texas Chemical Plant https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-07-07-mn-177-story.html live https://web.archive.org/web/20220113230420/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-07-07-mn-177-story.html January 13, 2022 January 13, 2022 Los Angeles Times en-US January 14, 1991 ARCO to Pay $3.48 Million for Alleged Workplace Violations in July 5 Texas Explosion https://books.google.com/books?id=4xn0W6Qpu30C Labor Press Service Washington, D.C. United States Department of Labor 1–6 Labor Press Service 1991 June 23, 1987 Arco may get a special payment from a subsidiary. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-06-23-fi-10100-story.html January 27, 2022 Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Times 1987 Mokhiber Russell December 1990 Corporate Villains: The 10 Worst Corporations of 1990 https://multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/issues/1990/12/mokhiber.html Multinational Monitor 11 12 https://web.archive.org/web/20200731232057/https://www.multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/issues/1990/12/mokhiber.html July 31, 2020 January 14, 1991 ARCO Spells Out Cause of Channelview Blast https://www.ogj.com/home/article/17238461/arco-spells-out-cause-of-channelview-blast subscription live https://web.archive.org/web/20220114141727/https://www.ogj.com/home/article/17238461/arco-spells-out-cause-of-channelview-blast January 14, 2022 January 13, 2022 Oil & Gas Journal PennWell Oil & Gas Journal 1991 June 1990 Explosion Rips Through World's Largest MTBE Unit https://books.google.com/books?id=arZCAQAAMAAJ Petroleum Supply Monthly Energy Information Administration xix Petroleum Supply Monthly 1990 Rendon Ruth July 6, 1990 Explosion at Chemical Plant Kills 17; Five Injured https://apnews.com/article/1a8ae91834d1175650d97497c2556731 January 13, 2022 AP News Associated Press Schwartz Emily September 1990 Workers at Risk https://multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/issues/1990/09/front.html Multinational Monitor 11 9 https://web.archive.org/web/20200731200913/https://www.multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/issues/1990/09/front.html July 31, 2020 Suro Roberto July 7, 1990 Explosion Kills 17 at Petrochemical Plant in Texas en-US 8 The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/07/us/explosion-kills-17-at-petrochemical-plant-in-texas.html January 13, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220113230419/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/07/us/explosion-kills-17-at-petrochemical-plant-in-texas.html January 13, 2022 0362-4331 July 8, 1990 Worker expressed fear of plant explosion https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/07/08/Worker-expressed-fear-of-plant-explosion/8327647409600/ live https://web.archive.org/web/20220113230421/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/07/08/Worker-expressed-fear-of-plant-explosion/8327647409600/ January 13, 2022 January 13, 2022 United Press International United Press International 1990 September 17, 2002 Two-Year Staff Investigation Points to Gaps in OSHA and Industry Standards for Reactive Chemicals https://www.csb.gov/two-year-staff-investigation-points-to-gaps-in-osha-and-industry-standards-for-reactive-chemicals/ live https://web.archive.org/web/20220113232051/https://www.csb.gov/two-year-staff-investigation-points-to-gaps-in-osha-and-industry-standards-for-reactive-chemicals/ January 13, 2022 January 14, 2022 U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board 2002 Further reading Introduction to Process Safety for Undergraduates and Engineers https://books.google.com/books?id=JLA7CwAAQBAJ John Wiley & Sons for the Center for Chemical Process Safety of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers 2016 978-1-118-94950-4 en January 6, 1991 ARCO to Pay $3.48 Million Fine in 1990 Blast that Killed 17 https://www.joc.com/arco-pay-348-million-fine-1990-blast-killed-17_19910106.html subscription live https://web.archive.org/web/20220113230428/https://www.joc.com/arco-pay-348-million-fine-1990-blast-killed-17_19910106.html January 13, 2022 January 13, 2022 The Journal of Commerce The Dallas Morning News April 18, 2013 Fatal industrial accidents in Texas https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/slideshow/Fatal-industrial-accidents-in-Texas-60604.php live https://web.archive.org/web/20220113232053/https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/slideshow/Fatal-industrial-accidents-in-Texas-60604.php January 13, 2022 January 13, 2022 San Antonio Express-News Hearst Communications External links https://www.osha.gov/pls/imis/accidentsearch.accident_detail?id=110318540 OSHA Accident Report Detail Category:1990 disasters in the United States Category:1990 in Texas Category:1990 industrial disasters Category:ARCO Category:Chemical plant explosions Category:1990 explosions Category:Explosions in Texas Category:Fires in Texas Category:Greater Houston Category:Harris County, Texas Category:Industrial fires and explosions in the United States Category:July 1990 in the United States