A narrated computer animation recreating the Deepwater Horizon blowout on April 20, 2010 depicts how high-pressure oil and gas from the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico caused an explosion on the drilling rig that killed 11 workers and seriously injured 17 others.
The blowout preventer (BOP) that was intended to shut off the flow of high-pressure oil and gas from the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico during the disaster on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on April 20, 2010, failed to seal the well because drill pipe buckled for reasons the offshore drilling industry remains largely unaware of, according to a new two-volume draft investigation report released today by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB).
As reported previously, we found a causal factor of the tragedy to be long-term, undetected High Temperature Hydrogen Attack (HTHA) of the steel equipment, which led to the vessel rupture on the day of the accident and the massive release of highly flammable hydrogen and naphtha.
A rule to establish standards for combustible dust that’s been in the works since 2009 is scheduled to move closer to completion in 2014, with a proposed draft regulation due this spring.
The death and destruction “are seared into our consciousness”
April 21, 2014
Four years after an explosion on BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig killed eleven workers and caused the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) is ready to release its report into the causes of the disaster.
CSB releases new message about the impact of chemical accidents
March 14, 2014
The CSB has released its second safety message in an occasional series focusing on the impacts of chemical accidents on people’s lives. The short video features Amy Gumbel, sister of Matt Gumbel - one of the workers fatally injured in the 2010 explosion and fire at the Tesoro Refinery in Anacortes, Washington.
California’s initiative to improve refinery safety is getting a big thumb’s up from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB). A report recently released by the California Interagency Working Group on Refinery Safety “is an important milestone for improving refinery safety across the State of California,” said CSB Chairperson Rafael Moure-Eraso.
After six workers were killed in a massive gas explosion at the Kleen Energy plant in Middletown, Connecticut four years ago, federal investigators tallied hundreds of violations at the site and issued $16.6 million in penalties against more than a dozen companies — the third-largest workplace-safety fine in the nation's history.
Unsafe method killed six workers at Kleen Energy plant in Conn.
February 7, 2014
The chairperson of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) yesterday commended the International Code Council (ICC) and its members for revising the International Fire Code (IFC) and International Fuel Gas Code (IFGC) to prohibit the unsafe practice that killed six workers in a tragic explosion at the Kleen Energy power generation facility in Middletown, Connecticut.
Tests done this morning at a West Virginia water treatment facility show some improvement in water quality – a sign that area residents may soon be able to drink water from their own taps.