Safety / Safer Practices in the Chemical Industry, just like other industries, often boils down to a willingness to expend necessary capital to correct safety problems.
How many poorly protected or unprotected chemical tank farms are built (protection costs money) and sitting out there just waiting to be involved in a conflaragtion caused by a spill / overflow and an ignition source that’s too close to the vapor release to be avoided?
How many insurance engineering improvement recommendations are ignored because completion would cost money? What is the penalty for not completing them? Does OSHA even look at insurance inspection reports (past & present) unless there already has been a major accident?
To many chemical mfg. companies (who won’t admit it), safety improvements are addressed with DISCRESTIONARY funding as opposed to ESSENTIAL funding when it comes time to develop annual budgets.
I doubt that this culture of “profit” before “safety” will change unless / until the states adopt meaningful penalties on plant & corporate managers for ignoring safety norms (i.e. NFPA Code reqirements, FMDS guidelines, etc.). Of course, certain political forces at play will always oppose more regulation (it affects profit), so, it will probably take yet another disaster to “shake things up”, at least for a month or two.
Safety / Safer Practices in the Chemical Industry, just like other industries, often boils down to a willingness to expend necessary capital to correct safety problems.
How many poorly protected or unprotected chemical tank farms are built (protection costs money) and sitting out there just waiting to be involved in a conflaragtion caused by a spill / overflow and an ignition source that’s too close to the vapor release to be avoided?
How many insurance engineering improvement recommendations are ignored because completion would cost money? What is the penalty for not completing them? Does OSHA even look at insurance inspection reports (past & present) unless there already has been a major accident?
To many chemical mfg. companies (who won’t admit it), safety improvements are addressed with DISCRESTIONARY funding as opposed to ESSENTIAL funding when it comes time to develop annual budgets.
I doubt that this culture of “profit” before “safety” will change unless / until the states adopt meaningful penalties on plant & corporate managers for ignoring safety norms (i.e. NFPA Code reqirements, FMDS guidelines, etc.). Of course, certain political forces at play will always oppose more regulation (it affects profit), so, it will probably take yet another disaster to “shake things up”, at least for a month or two.