What Does a Backlogged Safety Improvement Cost?
CSB Releases Investigation Update
On July 17th, the US Chemical Safety Board released an update to its investigation of a reboiler explosion and toxic chemical release at Honeywell Geismar, LA. The CSB reported that the accident released 870 pounds of HF gas and 1,700 pounds of chlorine gas, both of which are highly toxic.
Backlogged Safety Repairs
The CSB explained that in September 2020, Honeywell used ultrasonic testing to estimate the remaining life of the reboiler shell, which was estimated to be 1.1 years.
In October 2021, a visual inspection of the reboiler internals was completed. Honeywell personnel recommended replacing the reboiler shell at the next shutdown opportunity.
A project to replace the shell was initiated in January 2022. Management approved the project, but the shell was not purchased or replaced before the explosion on January 23, 2023.
Backlogs and Cost
I believe management should have taken the test results in 2020 and started replacing the shell before the end of 2021. But it looks as if an inspection was scheduled, and replacement of the shell was left in a backlog of safety improvements for a future shutdown.
What did this backlog cost? Luckily, no one was killed. But local officials closed nearby highways, and Honeywell personnel sheltered in place.
Honeywell reports that the estimated property damage is $4 million.
What was the cost of the damage to Honeywell’s reputation? That’s unknown.
Lessons Learned?
What can you learn from the preliminary results of this CSB investigation?
First, management must take action when potential safety problems are discovered. Management can’t just add improvements to the safety improvement backlog and hope for the best.
Second, management is required to make technical judgments and needs the technical knowledge to assess problems and correct them in a timely manner. Admiral Rickover called this level of knowledge “Technical Competency.” It was one of the key components of his philosophy to ensure reactor safety and should be a part of any process safety management strategy.
Learn more about how Admiral Rickover stopped the normalization of deviation with the normalization of excellence in this seven-part series:
(Correction: The original article had the wrong date for the initial inspection – 2010. We have corrected the date and the date that management should have taken action – the end of 2021. Please excuse our initial misreading of the CSB report.)
