more like layers of not getting your assets damaged. Thankfully the Company didn't murder anyone in this case and should take precautions to prevent it from happening again. I swear, these companies are just clinically insane with their safety precautions.
@@alexanderbreitschaedel9070 Haha, that is brilliant, thank you for sharing!! Gotta love German wry wit. In English, we just borrowed the term, "Schadenfreude" directly, since there wasn't already a word that described the concept....
Based on this, it's good to hear that the supervisor and other workers at least acted correctly given the clearly unsafe situation i.e. shutting off th flow from the tanker, preventing anyone from entering the facility, and attempting to determine the source without getting too close.
I thought the same thing. They didn't call in a bunch of other people, they kept their distance when trying to find the source of the leak and prevented others from entering. If that hadn't been the case, they would likely be injured or dead. In some other CSB investigation videos the exact opposite is what took place. The video on nitrogen asphyxiation hazards and "half an hour to tragedy" which was about a propane tank leak come to mind.
It looked incredible,look at how the flame shoots upward then backdown and finally into the ground. You can see a green flash almost. Was amazing. Just imagine an explosion that felt like an earthquake
Here's an idea for a new regulation : make it mandatory for industry executives to live within 500 yards of their refineries and storage facilities. This alone will ensure that incredible steps are taken to prevent accidents.
Another guy who wants to come up with the rules and regulations for people how about everybody who comes up with ideas on TH-cam has to live them first
As an instrumentation tech, I am amazed at how casually some operators take plant instrumentation. Malfunctioning indicators should be addressed immediately, and the devices should be routinely subjected to testing, calibration and robust preventative maintenance.
I'm an electrician so don't really know anything about safe handling of chemicals.. but even to me it seems like common sense to have redundancies and take faulty instrumentation seriously, erring on the side of caution if you aren't absolutely certain what's happening. Common sense seems to be a rare thing recently :(
The unbelievable is If you watch a few such Videos that nearly every time(i think it Looks Like 9 Out of 10) on crusial part of the big Explosion is malfunction in Security Equipment 😲 And Not Like ooh it stops Working "boom" No every time it stopped Working weeks and months before.
@@mikuhatsunegoshujin Neither. One of them is wrong and you go with the worst value to be safe if you have to, but basically at that point you need to call in for maintenance before proceeding.
you have to hand it to the three people though. Their plan seemed okay in hindsight. And as soon as things went wrong, they did everything they could to assess and protect the situation. The fault was more corporate than anything else.
Thats some broke ass excuse for being a party to a disaster like this Somebody's gottta tell the boss... hey the shit is broken and I ain't working there if the shit is broke. Kinda like boarding a sinking ship and worrying the whole voyage if you're not going to drown More than once I've told the captain, the boss, or whoever was in charge, I wasn't going to step over the rail, or climb that icy ladder. Yeah, I went broke but saved my piece of mind and very likely prolly my life... and made them look at all their unsafe shit
Come on, common sense and self preservation should kick in at some point. They were the ones who actually worked there, how did they not see this coming. I'm more carefull with 2 gals. than these guys were.
4:08 whoever made it protocol for those drains to be open by default was lazy and careless. It should have been closed at all times, except during heavy rain fall.
Cj Kash ive done this at fuckin fast food places and other less dangerous jobs and it got handled. It blows my mind a mega dangerous thing like this would be so fuckin haphazard
I was out walking when the buncefield explosion shockwave hit me, a firm thump in the chest. Buncefield was 154km (96 miles) away ... quite an experience.
Yea.. Explosions can be crazy... Here in Germany we still find undetonated bombs from WW2. Most get defused but some have to be detonated in a controlled manner. I experienced one of these detonations from approximately 5-7 km away while inside a house, window opened. It wasn't incredibly loud but noticeable and I felt a weak but clearly noticeable shock wave. Also experienced small simulated artillery strikes on a display exercise our company visited at the end of basic training. 1-3 kilometers away and earplugs but still impressive and the shockwave clearly rocked the tarpaulin on our stand... Don't mess with explosives and don't underestimate undetonated bombs. The evacuation radius isn't a joke and since the radius common in military situations isn't segnificantly smaller the ones used for civilist environments are in no way exaggerated. The blast is one thing, debris flung around another... Even controlled detonations can cause unexpected damage and can be dangerous... Just look up 2012 Munich WW2 bomb detonation...
That surveillance video clip is incredible. We've all seen special effects in movies or perhaps an explosion situated in one area. Watching the flame front move all over the facility like that is just unreal. I managed the fuel facility at a regional airport for over 5 years. Our two 210,000 gallon Jet-A tanks used a very similar mechanical measuring system. It is a common and good system, properly maintained. The emergency systems were exactly as shown in the video. A 178,000 gallon high level alarm (lights and auditory alerts) and 188,000 gallon high-high alarm that cut power to all the pumps in or out of the tanks. I had to perform weekly tests on these systems to make sure they were functional. I can't believe they lacked this, as gasoline is far more dangerous than jet fuel. Unless atomized, there is very low explosive or even fire risk as compared to gasoline, which evaporates quickly and mixes with the air.
oh god dont give ea any ideas lol that saaaaid... id like to see the csb investigate how my sim managed to immolate themselves while making a salad.....lol
+1 for smart employees doing the right thing and treating something suspicious with extreme caution. If they had gone in like so many incident videos I've seen they'd all be dead.
Oleg Yeah in hindsight that was pretty creepy, i saw the rainbow profile pic and clicked, then was surprised that anyone shared my set of extremely specific and unrelated tastes
"drove to an elevated point away from the cloud to try to identify the source of the leak" lol, they were GTFO. not much you can do at that point anyways...
@@scottyweimuller6152 "not a proper sentences" is also not a proper sentence! *And* you forgot the apostrophe in "that's"! If you're going to correct people, you have to be correct yourself.
I have come across regular damage to high level systems through the delivery people trying to get the last bit into the tank thinking they know what percentage of capacity is left in the tank.The high level systems can be damaged by the overfilled product and the person making the delivery messing with systems to override them.It then falls back on the installation engineer who is blamed for a malfunction.I had been involved in one multiple early warning incident about 10 years ago where we repeatedly informed the plant management of the likely hood of an ultimate failure. Nothing was done and there was eventually a fire, the management held up there hands later admitting they had been told.Thankfully nobody was hurt.
You would think in this day and age it shouldn't be hard to design monitoring equipment that is out of the way of and or protected from interference and damage. (ultrasonic level sensor above tank monitored at a remote facility with limited access. Then again I know nothing about it.
A guy sticking his head in the top with a flashlight, and depth marks painted on the side of the tank in gasoline-proof lettering, would have been more reliable than the system they had. They would have known how little time they had to finish filling the tank if they'd have only looked in it.
3:28 Can you imagine seeing this? You’re one of three people to oversee this multi million dollar storage facility in the middle of the night and you realize you screwed something up beyond repair. I’d be horrified
I feel like there should be criminal penalties for forcing employees to use "guesstimate" methods due to broken equipment when filling up 20,000 GALLON tanks of extremely flammable gasoline. If I overfilled a 20,000 gallon tank of gas in my yard because I was "guessing" how much gas was in it and it lead to an explosion damaging nearby property, I'd be charged with criminal negligence.
This is what happens when incompetents make management decisions and workers are ill-equiped or also incompetent to run things safely. There are many videos of industrial accidents, some had redundant safety features such as the alarm systems to warn of immediate danger. Then Worker 1 decides to turn off the alarm warning him he's about to die and the rest follows.
@@squidwardo7074 Watch the video again, it clearly says that there where regulations missing 7:36 . Saying that a worker mistake can cause such accident is just plain stupid, such a site should be protected for worker mistakes.
This is what got me as well. How the HELL can you estimate with dealing with such quantities of a highly combustable liquid? Seems beyond reckless. That nobody died is nothing short of a miracle.
I am a retired terminal operator from a major oil company. We had all the recommended safeguards in place, High level alarms which when activated would give the operators time to switch to another tank or shut down the receipt BEFORE an overfill occurred, and High-High level alarms which would automatically close an electrically operated receiving valve when activated. The main problem I detect is the dike drain valves being open during a receipt, allowing the spilled product to flow to the water treatment system where the activation of the pump is what caused the explosion. Before any receipt, confirmation that the dike drains were closed, AND locked was one of the pre-checks required.
I do a lot of heating oil pump outs, and I'm always extra cautious when I'm filling multiple 55 gallon drums. Luckily I've done away with that method and I use a larger tank now where I cannot possibly overfill. Would love to get some kind of overfill alarm though. Definitely going to look into that. You guys have amazing content. Just subscribed!
Dont' get complacent man. That "...I cannot possibly overfill" mentality could possibly get you in trouble. I can't imagine what moron city officials would want to try to charge you for a simple cleanup.
@@doehong5379 That’s complete nonsense. If you have 4 gallons of petrol in an open tank you can ignite it and it will just be a casual campfire for about an hour after which it dies out. Its petrol vapor which is dangerous, especially when it’s in a closed container.
There's tons of plants near my grandma's house, and one of those big cylinder tanks is brown from rust and has an old, and I mean OLD gulf logo on it. I mean the 1960-1964 logo, which is funny, because all the other tanks look brand new
In addition (information unfortunately missing in the CSB video), the valve to the water treatment should be always left closed. Operators should check for rain water accumulation on a shift or daily basis and open the valve to let the rain water go to treatment. The loss would have been most probably avoided if this simple procedure would have been followed.
Turning a valve is not a systemic process CSB has anything to say about... It is not unfortunate not to mention it. I imagine you work directly with these systems but not at a large organizational level.
thank you for making these videos public, big business won't like it, but i am thankful!!!!!!! we can all learn ways to stay safe from the past if we know about the past
I worked on a project writing software used to monitor petroleum storage amounts and it's a real ball-ache because the volume changes a fair amount depending on the temperature.
... _AND_ whatever didn't catch fire, saturated and contaminated the grass, the water, and the land all around it... That alone probably took a decade to clean up and/or dissipate!
A pressure sensor measuring a level of 0-100 feet is about 400 dollars. Connect that with an electronically control infeed valve to close it at a certain level and you dont even need a guy wasting his time on the top. Would be cheaper than having a multi million dollar accident.
@@ElMirc Float switches have their own problems. See a different video where it malfunctioned. A pressure sensor using 4-20mA signal can be monitored for wire breakage, and offers more safety. You also have additional information on the exact height of filling level.
One very valuable lesson from these videos is experiencing what can go wrong ...very valuable for current workers ...I would watch these videos many times if I worked there ...more in depth process = more that can go wrong ...great videos
I can't believe how stupid this was in regards to the company (not the people shown). From a safety standpoint, from a resource waste standpoint and environmental standpoint. Just absolutely avoidable & ridiculous.
Despite this still being a devastating loss of product and still being very unfortunate, as well as the environmental impacts, I highly respect the employees for keeping their distance safely and trying to avoid injury, successfully.
6:30 Phil you need to put some safeguards in place to prevent an incident with those shelves mate. All I see is an inevitable and avoidable desktop catastrophe as a result of poorly designed and crudely assembled structural support mechanisms compounded by a haphazard approach to the storage of textbooks and other printed materials.
I could see the flames from Bayamon PR a good 10 miles from the Tank Farm. The smoke cloud was clearly visible from Barceloneta and even further 30-40 miles out
1:03 "...and the comapny did not have to implement safeguards that could have prevented explosions..." Thanks EPA for saving us from job-killing regulation!
Quite shocking. But I still have a question that hasn't been answered in this film: Every tank has its own containment dike. And of course there is a need to drain rainwater from this containment through outlets. What should be done to prevent overflow pouring through these outlets? Connecting the valves with the overflow alarm?
This might be a bit late, but bunds should be sized to hold 110% of the maximum capacity of the largest tank or drum in the bunded area (secondary containment or as you referred to it, containment dike). If you use a pump to pump rainwater away you then control what you release from the bund. the sizing is obviously depends on the country's rules and regulations.
When I was a kid I took 6 gallons of gas dumped it on a huge brush pile and lit it with a bottle rocket. It "blew up" almost in slow motion, more like a fast burn and a roar. But standing 150ft away it sucked the air out of your lungs for a second. I can only imagine how they felt after that explosion, waiting for the oxygen to come back.
All for the sake of a tank level monitor which most smart people would have on a large water tank let alone a poisonous, flammable, expensive, dangerous, dwindling resource. No words to describe how utterly appalling and stupid this is and how simply it could have been avoided! Hope the company paid massively.
Did you watch the video? They had electronic tank level monitors, but sometimes they'd get struck by lightning etc and then the crew would have to resort to the old school float level monitoring method.
TLI -Tank Level Indicator: used by the US NAVY. Incorporates the use of "overlapping" Float Switches with resistors inside them. For Example: 10Volts=100% 0Volts = 0% Full
When you're in control of that amount of flammable liquid you would think your protocol and procedures would be absolute how careless that's not a business to be in the guessing game
Sooo that transmitter is not SIL certified in any way! Should have something like an endress hauser liquiphant level switch (EX-I) in the top of the tank, going to a safety PLC cutting off inlets... Who signed off on that design? In Europe the manufacturer has to CE-certify it, this would never be accepted.
+Seroster Installing a safety PLC would be a good idea. One for each tank & a master PLC for the tank farm. Only if all the required conditions are satisfied would the flow of flammable liquids be "enabled". Todays PLCs can be configured so that they can't be bypassed. Also an interlock clear signal could be periodically transmitted to the pumping equipment at the unloading docs. If the interlock clear signal is missing the pumps would automatically shut down.
trespire My day work involves service of the electrical safety systems involved in compressing biomethane to several hundred bars, I'v dealt with both Jokab (ABB) Pluto series and Siemens S7(FS) series safety plcs, along with lots of ATEX-rated NAMUR/HART transmitters and switches. I have yet to find a safety function I can not bypass, given free access to the electrical cabinets. ;) I think it was noted in the video the lack of regulations regarding storage farms, I.E refining gasoline is highly regulated but keeping thousands of liters of it is not.
No no no, you'd better with an osterhagen key linked to serial bowl and triple overhead underhangs, for redundancy, especially when storing nellie D oliphants.
@@Serostern Then tell us how many of your colleagues would even consider bypassing any safety in such dangerous environment! It's not a question if certain things can be done.. It's a question if any technician would do it! I work as smith/technician in stainless steel. Absolutely no one would bypass safety or cut corners in this business.. Neither ignoring anyone even talking about such actions. Social excluded from the team & fired by first opportunity
Bypassing safety features was necessary to run I/O checks of the equipment before being sent out to customers. If people bypass safety features is largely a product of the workplace culture, in many places the pressure to keep production running blinds managers and workers alike.
Why it isn't SOP to have at least 3 separate monitoring systems for something as dangerous as bulk-storage gasoline is beyond me. This level of idiocy should be criminal to allow anywhere near such materials.
Patrick S Jeez you really flew off in the wrong direction really fast there. It's peculiar that you're blaming God for things that obviously wasn't His will. Maybe you aren't aware we're living in a fallen world and things happen that aren't God's will. You might want to brush up on some elementary scripture reading.
I flew over Buncefield on my delayed flight to Luton from Edinburgh the following day. It was an incredible, but frightening sight. Thank God nobody was killed that day.
As with most of these type of incidents, there is always a certain amount of stupidity and lack of foresight involved. Why on earth would they not have a warning system in place to alert them that a tank was getting critically full? With such highly inflammable contents one would expect that would be the very least they would do !
I worked as a subcontractor at tank fields in Knoxville Tennessee and Augusta Georgia in the early 90s.... Always, I felt that the vents should have had warning devices at the vents. I was heckled by others for this thinking.
That’s a big spill of gasoline. 200,000 gallons. About 5000 BBL’s... they should of had someone watching that tank so that didn’t happen. Or measured it by hand.
Never a good day when your workplace registers on the richter scale.
Lmao
Yeah I bet everyone working with trump says the same thing. Hes so fat every step he takes registers on the Richter scale. Que the tuba waltz music
@@scottyweimuller6152 ah, the infamous german "humor"
@@migkillerphantom if only I was German 🤣🤣🤣
It's still better than registering on the INES scale!
"No! Im not paying extra for redundant safety systems!" (Destroys entire facility and surrounding area)
They should just look in the tank using a lighter for illumination to check the level
@@dieseldave71 There is a "Darwin award" based on this particular idea ......
rip in peace
Regulations are Communism!
The probably lost more in damages than it would've costed to implement safety features.
You say layers of protection.
They hear layers of cost.
Right. In germany we say: Für den profit gehen die Reichen über Leichen
more like layers of not getting your assets damaged.
Thankfully the Company didn't murder anyone in this case and should take precautions to prevent it from happening again. I swear, these companies are just clinically insane with their safety precautions.
TCPUDPATM PORTS wonder what costs more, repairing the tape measure or losing 17 tanks of gasoline
@@alexanderbreitschaedel9070 Haha, that is brilliant, thank you for sharing!! Gotta love German wry wit. In English, we just borrowed the term, "Schadenfreude" directly, since there wasn't already a word that described the concept....
I wonder if the managers were being awarded profit-based performance bonuses. The management aphorism goes: "What gets rewarded gets done..."
Based on this, it's good to hear that the supervisor and other workers at least acted correctly given the clearly unsafe situation i.e. shutting off th flow from the tanker, preventing anyone from entering the facility, and attempting to determine the source without getting too close.
I thought the same thing. They didn't call in a bunch of other people, they kept their distance when trying to find the source of the leak and prevented others from entering. If that hadn't been the case, they would likely be injured or dead. In some other CSB investigation videos the exact opposite is what took place. The video on nitrogen asphyxiation hazards and "half an hour to tragedy" which was about a propane tank leak come to mind.
Right. Too many of these videos have stories where workers follow up a problem with a poor recovery attempt that result in more people getting hurt.
@@Simonstoster I understand that this water treating facility wasn't under their control?
YES too many times the response is....meh...its not big deal dont worry about it.
Should have notified the local authorities who could have began an evacuation of the surrounding area.
Not gonna lie. That surveillance video was pretty badass!
Look up the PEMEX explosion on 2012
It looked incredible,look at how the flame shoots upward then backdown and finally into the ground. You can see a green flash almost. Was amazing. Just imagine an explosion that felt like an earthquake
Watch it 3 times
Yeah that was something else!
@@leonotthelion did you see Tianjin explosion youtube videos?
Here's an idea for a new regulation : make it mandatory for industry executives to live within 500 yards of their refineries and storage facilities. This alone will ensure that incredible steps are taken to prevent accidents.
WHAT THEY HAVE TO ACTUALLY MAKE IT MANDATORY AND BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THERE MISTAKES HUUUH THATS A LOT OF MONEY NOT GOING IN THERE POOR POCKETS
This is 100% government failure 100% the mayor of Puerto Rico didn’t even live on the island she lives in Florida come on wake the fuck up
....or they could just keep eyes on the filling process.
Convert all industry to a worker cooperative model. Make the managers elected, and the corporations worker-owned, worker-managed.
Another guy who wants to come up with the rules and regulations for people how about everybody who comes up with ideas on TH-cam has to live them first
As an instrumentation tech, I am amazed at how casually some operators take plant instrumentation. Malfunctioning indicators should be addressed immediately, and the devices should be routinely subjected to testing, calibration and robust preventative maintenance.
I'm an electrician so don't really know anything about safe handling of chemicals.. but even to me it seems like common sense to have redundancies and take faulty instrumentation seriously, erring on the side of caution if you aren't absolutely certain what's happening. Common sense seems to be a rare thing recently :(
@white zebra if one of them is off, what do you trust?
The unbelievable is If you watch a few such Videos that nearly every time(i think it Looks Like 9 Out of 10) on crusial part of the big Explosion is malfunction in Security Equipment 😲
And Not Like ooh it stops Working "boom" No every time it stopped Working weeks and months before.
@@mikuhatsunegoshujin Neither. One of them is wrong and you go with the worst value to be safe if you have to, but basically at that point you need to call in for maintenance before proceeding.
It would also help if I&E does the repair when reported instead of waiting forever.
you have to hand it to the three people though. Their plan seemed okay in hindsight. And as soon as things went wrong, they did everything they could to assess and protect the situation. The fault was more corporate than anything else.
Thats some broke ass excuse for being a party to a disaster like this
Somebody's gottta tell the boss... hey the shit is broken and I ain't working there if the shit is broke.
Kinda like boarding a sinking ship and worrying the whole voyage if you're not going to drown
More than once I've told the captain, the boss, or whoever was in charge, I wasn't going to step over the rail, or climb that icy ladder.
Yeah, I went broke but saved my piece of mind and very likely prolly my life... and made them look at all their unsafe shit
Come on, common sense and self preservation should kick in at some point. They were the ones who actually worked there, how did they not see this coming. I'm more carefull with 2 gals. than these guys were.
Tommy Petraglia I mean they may as well open the well chanber and used a lighter to see if it was full......
4:08 whoever made it protocol for those drains to be open by default was lazy and careless. It should have been closed at all times, except during heavy rain fall.
Cj Kash ive done this at fuckin fast food places and other less dangerous jobs and it got handled. It blows my mind a mega dangerous thing like this would be so fuckin haphazard
You know you messed up when your explosion is measured on the Richter scale...
My ass regularly makes this rating
@@prettypointlessvideo lmao
Not to mention when ATF, the Feds and CSB coming to investigate the aftermath of it
I was out walking when the buncefield explosion shockwave hit me, a firm thump in the chest.
Buncefield was 154km (96 miles) away ... quite an experience.
Doesn't look like a very good experience. Glad you're here at least buddy
Yea.. Explosions can be crazy...
Here in Germany we still find undetonated bombs from WW2. Most get defused but some have to be detonated in a controlled manner.
I experienced one of these detonations from approximately 5-7 km away while inside a house, window opened. It wasn't incredibly loud but noticeable and I felt a weak but clearly noticeable shock wave.
Also experienced small simulated artillery strikes on a display exercise our company visited at the end of basic training. 1-3 kilometers away and earplugs but still impressive and the shockwave clearly rocked the tarpaulin on our stand...
Don't mess with explosives and don't underestimate undetonated bombs. The evacuation radius isn't a joke and since the radius common in military situations isn't segnificantly smaller the ones used for civilist environments are in no way exaggerated. The blast is one thing, debris flung around another...
Even controlled detonations can cause unexpected damage and can be dangerous... Just look up 2012 Munich WW2 bomb detonation...
I could see the flames from my house. I couldn’t have the windows open for 3 days due to the fumes and gas smell.
It was really hot.
Did you sustain any injuries or was it just shock?
@@jayc5529 nope - it was just like a firm slap in the chest.
"aboveground storage tank expert" is a very specific expertise
The above ground fuel storage tank over flow and explosions expert
"Nationally recognized expert on aboveground storage tanks" feels somehow both impressive and slightly sad
@@casey6556 yes, like great on you for getting to the top of your career, but damn is that a lame as career
@@TheWizardGamez Now come on: how lame can it be if it gets you on a CSB video?
@@Ea-Nasir_Copper_Co I feel like being on a CSB video is the wrong type of "national recognition" you want
That surveillance video clip is incredible. We've all seen special effects in movies or perhaps an explosion situated in one area. Watching the flame front move all over the facility like that is just unreal. I managed the fuel facility at a regional airport for over 5 years. Our two 210,000 gallon Jet-A tanks used a very similar mechanical measuring system. It is a common and good system, properly maintained. The emergency systems were exactly as shown in the video. A 178,000 gallon high level alarm (lights and auditory alerts) and 188,000 gallon high-high alarm that cut power to all the pumps in or out of the tanks. I had to perform weekly tests on these systems to make sure they were functional. I can't believe they lacked this, as gasoline is far more dangerous than jet fuel. Unless atomized, there is very low explosive or even fire risk as compared to gasoline, which evaporates quickly and mixes with the air.
"Danm, whats that awful stench? Someone light a match."
@Paradoxical Nightmare it's getting kinda dark in here...
(match strikes)
KA-BOOM!
Top Gear Intro:
Jeremy Clarkson - "Tonight"
"Richard stars at a tank."
"James opens a valve."
"And I cause an explosion."
CALL 911 ME STORAGE TANKS BEANING ON FIRE MATE
GAS...
SPARK...
EXPLOSION...
BOTTOM GEAR.
You Mean: Tonight on Bottom Gear
t,n,b,g
Anyone else binge watching these videos? Haha
Matthew Gillespie I have no ideas as to why, but yes I am.
Me too LOL!!
Man talk about a impressive F- up. Filling anything without a gauge gas wise was asking for it to vent.
I actually am, no joke.
Definitely me. Extremely interesting
The Sims 4: Industrial Accident! Expansion
shocklobster lmao
I'd buy that for a dollar!
oh god dont give ea any ideas lol that saaaaid... id like to see the csb investigate how my sim managed to immolate themselves while making a salad.....lol
Finally an expansion worth buying.
I think this is more of a Cities: Skylines DLC
I was watching tv when this happened. I felt it right away. Everyone though it was a earthquake.
Well, if they already measured 2.9 on the Richter scale... it kinda was. Amazing that nobody died.
You should’ve been in bed MR!!!
+1 for smart employees doing the right thing and treating something suspicious with extreme caution. If they had gone in like so many incident videos I've seen they'd all be dead.
It's incredible that there were no fatalities
+Improbable Lobster because it was a night and every worker was at home
Improbable Lobster i noticed you were subscribed to shaun, hbomberguy, mbmbam, and playwarframe, and just wanted to say that you have great taste
Maybe they actually had decent safety training even know this happened.
@@pseudophori6541 Well that comment was sort of creepy.
Oleg Yeah in hindsight that was pretty creepy, i saw the rainbow profile pic and clicked, then was surprised that anyone shared my set of extremely specific and unrelated tastes
Wow. No fatalities... That's one big lucky moment for everyone involved, especially in such a large facility.
"drove to an elevated point away from the cloud to try to identify the source of the leak"
lol, they were GTFO.
not much you can do at that point anyways...
would do the same lol the second I see the vapor covering the entire facility, I'm the fuck outta there
The were "Get The Fuck Out?" Yeah thats not a proper sentences at all. 🤦♂️🤣🤣🤣
@@scottyweimuller6152 Gettin' Tha Fuk out!
Don't be a pedantic ass. It does not indicate intellect. Or perhaps it does...
Exactly my thought hahaha!
@@scottyweimuller6152 "not a proper sentences" is also not a proper sentence! *And* you forgot the apostrophe in "that's"! If you're going to correct people, you have to be correct yourself.
I have come across regular damage to high level systems through the delivery people trying to get the last bit into the tank thinking they know what percentage of capacity is left in the tank.The high level systems can be damaged by the overfilled product and the person making the delivery messing with systems to override them.It then falls back on the installation engineer who is blamed for a malfunction.I had been involved in one multiple early warning incident about 10 years ago where we repeatedly informed the plant management of the likely hood of an ultimate failure. Nothing was done and there was eventually a fire, the management held up there hands later admitting they had been told.Thankfully nobody was hurt.
You would think in this day and age it shouldn't be hard to design monitoring equipment that is out of the way of and or protected from interference and damage.
(ultrasonic level sensor above tank monitored at a remote facility with limited access. Then again I know nothing about it.
wow talk about cheeping out on level monitoring equipment
+killernat Only slightly better than a guy sticking his head in the top with a flashlight.
A guy sticking his head in the top with a flashlight, and depth marks painted on the side of the tank in gasoline-proof lettering, would have been more reliable than the system they had. They would have known how little time they had to finish filling the tank if they'd have only looked in it.
Well, it's a lot better than a guy sticking his head in the top with a Bic lighter.
That’s been done before. TH-cam using lighter to check tanker level
Hexane Wasn't there a Darwin award for a guy who did that on a smaller scale?
3:28 Can you imagine seeing this? You’re one of three people to oversee this multi million dollar storage facility in the middle of the night and you realize you screwed something up beyond repair. I’d be horrified
USCSB videos will pop in my feed every once and a while, and I can't help but sit back and enjoy them. You learn so much stuff!
I feel like there should be criminal penalties for forcing employees to use "guesstimate" methods due to broken equipment when filling up 20,000 GALLON tanks of extremely flammable gasoline.
If I overfilled a 20,000 gallon tank of gas in my yard because I was "guessing" how much gas was in it and it lead to an explosion damaging nearby property, I'd be charged with criminal negligence.
POV it’s 4 to 5 am, and you be binge watching this just like me.
3:45 am, but you're close
When someone says "we want less regulations" this is the result
This happened in spite of regulations
@@roymarshall_ this actually happened due to an oversight by a worker... had nothing to do with regulations
This is what happens when incompetents make management decisions and workers are ill-equiped or also incompetent to run things safely.
There are many videos of industrial accidents, some had redundant safety features such as the alarm systems to warn of immediate danger. Then Worker 1 decides to turn off the alarm warning him he's about to die and the rest follows.
@@squidwardo7074 Watch the video again, it clearly says that there where regulations missing 7:36 . Saying that a worker mistake can cause such accident is just plain stupid, such a site should be protected for worker mistakes.
That surveillance video is one of the wildest things I've ever seen.
Since I worked in a refinery I absolutely love these videos, I can literally watch over and over. Please upload more videos 🙏🏽
The root cause: greed, greed and more greed.
Always is...
Surprise surprise
One thing I’ve learned from watching these videos is that there is ALWAYS going to be an ignition source
I don't know how I got so deep in the rabbit hole but I am addicted to these safety videos at this point
I like these videos. I think it is good that you guys summarize and emphasize why these accidents happen. Thank you for your hard work.
k.?? It's literally their job but whatever.
2:47 -- "The Supervisor estimated . . ." Uh oh.
This is what got me as well. How the HELL can you estimate with dealing with such quantities of a highly combustable liquid? Seems beyond reckless. That nobody died is nothing short of a miracle.
@@BusyBasaz Exactly!
#1 factor in workplace carastorphies is complacency. Be alert, be diligent, be vigilent.
I am a retired terminal operator from a major oil company. We had all the recommended safeguards in place, High level alarms which when activated would give the operators time to switch to another tank or shut down the receipt BEFORE an overfill occurred, and High-High level alarms which would automatically close an electrically operated receiving valve when activated. The main problem I detect is the dike drain valves being open during a receipt, allowing the spilled product to flow to the water treatment system where the activation of the pump is what caused the explosion. Before any receipt, confirmation that the dike drains were closed, AND locked was one of the pre-checks required.
I do a lot of heating oil pump outs, and I'm always extra cautious when I'm filling multiple 55 gallon drums. Luckily I've done away with that method and I use a larger tank now where I cannot possibly overfill. Would love to get some kind of overfill alarm though. Definitely going to look into that. You guys have amazing content. Just subscribed!
Dont' get complacent man. That "...I cannot possibly overfill" mentality could possibly get you in trouble.
I can't imagine what moron city officials would want to try to charge you for a simple cleanup.
I saw the short version and was waiting for his one. Worth waiting for! Thanks C.S.B.
My wish is that all government entities took the job as seriously as the csb.
Thank you for your hard work and dedication to safe workplaces.
2.9 on the richter scale ... damn.
Kevin Miedema when I bang girls the bed registers an 8.0 😈🍆
this is what wikipedia says about 2.0-2.9 richter magnitudes: "Felt slightly by some people. No damage to buildings"
Average frequency of occurrence (estimated): Over one million per year
@Willem DaFuckedUp I'd think the fact that it even made it on the scale is impressive
Very minor 2.0-2.9 People do not feel these, but seismographs are able to detect them. About 1,000 per day
Thank God for this TH-cam video! This saved my side gig petroleum plant!
holy shit. that explosion looked like a nuke going off
Brutality110 gasoline is some volital shit
McDastardly I had a feeling it was the pepcon disaster
One gallon of gas is 14 sticks of dynamite
@@doehong5379 That’s complete nonsense. If you have 4 gallons of petrol in an open tank you can ignite it and it will just be a casual campfire for about an hour after which it dies out. Its petrol vapor which is dangerous, especially when it’s in a closed container.
Glad to see TH-cam recommendations finally understanding what type of videos I like.
I’ll be a certified technician by the time I’m done binge watching videos like this
I absolutely love these videos. Thank you for being so consistently awesome with their presentation and quality.
Where was Michael Bay at the time of the explosion ?
Filming
Furiously taking notes
There's tons of plants near my grandma's house, and one of those big cylinder tanks is brown from rust and has an old, and I mean OLD gulf logo on it. I mean the 1960-1964 logo, which is funny, because all the other tanks look brand new
Perhaps that tank not in use
I have been waiting months for this one!
In addition (information unfortunately missing in the CSB video), the valve to the water treatment should be always left closed. Operators should check for rain water accumulation on a shift or daily basis and open the valve to let the rain water go to treatment. The loss would have been most probably avoided if this simple procedure would have been followed.
I don't think the loss would be avoided, it would've spread even further and something else would've set it off.
Turning a valve is not a systemic process CSB has anything to say about... It is not unfortunate not to mention it. I imagine you work directly with these systems but not at a large organizational level.
When you get recommended a random video and look in the comments for the cliche "see you again in 10 years" and you don't find it
well 4 years, close enough
thank you for making these videos public, big business won't like it, but i am thankful!!!!!!! we can all learn ways to stay safe from the past if we know about the past
Gasoline/diesel storage tanks are never filled over 90% of it’s capacity
I worked on a project writing software used to monitor petroleum storage amounts and it's a real ball-ache because the volume changes a fair amount depending on the temperature.
How about just having an analog float gauge like in a car.
Jimmycdasme those are what was used, and are prone to mechanical failure on larger scales like this.
pressure sensor + temperature sensor + mathematics = filling level
(filling level >= safety limit) + electronically controlled infeed valve = 40 million dollars saved without accident
It is a miracle that no one got killed by this one!
... _AND_ whatever didn't catch fire, saturated and contaminated the grass, the water, and the land all around it... That alone probably took a decade to clean up and/or dissipate!
That live video of the flash fire was incredible.
Was it really too expensive or hard to have a guy on top of silo to watch the fuel level.
A pressure sensor measuring a level of 0-100 feet is about 400 dollars. Connect that with an electronically control infeed valve to close it at a certain level and you dont even need a guy wasting his time on the top. Would be cheaper than having a multi million dollar accident.
@@deadbeef576 Bet you a simple float switch is even less expensive than that.
@@ElMirc Float switches have their own problems. See a different video where it malfunctioned. A pressure sensor using 4-20mA signal can be monitored for wire breakage, and offers more safety. You also have additional information on the exact height of filling level.
Forget recommendations! Make it a requirement!
If only they could but the CSB is powerless to do so. Just how the government and big business likes them.
One very valuable lesson from these videos is experiencing what can go wrong ...very valuable for current workers ...I would watch these videos many times if I worked there ...more in depth process = more that can go wrong ...great videos
I can't believe how stupid this was in regards to the company (not the people shown). From a safety standpoint, from a resource waste standpoint and environmental standpoint. Just absolutely avoidable & ridiculous.
Thats the fault of the leader of the maintenance team.
It is called being cheapskates
on the Brightside all the gasoline exploded, so not to much got into the environment.
@@vitorleite3095 a little, but the lack of redundant systems was a management decision.
@@RobinTheBot uh, the air nigga.
wow. I never thought I'd be binge watching CSB safety videos.
2:23 Lmaooo the best animation of him hunching over and inspecting the fill level and then nodding as he notes the level 😂
Syclone0044 ....I like how in other CSB videos when a guy is running away from danger it looks like a speeded up version of the Ric Flair strut.
Looks like a bad skyrim mod
He was talking on the radio, not nodding.
Despite this still being a devastating loss of product and still being very unfortunate, as well as the environmental impacts, I highly respect the employees for keeping their distance safely and trying to avoid injury, successfully.
6:30 Phil you need to put some safeguards in place to prevent an incident with those shelves mate. All I see is an inevitable and avoidable desktop catastrophe as a result of poorly designed and crudely assembled structural support mechanisms compounded by a haphazard approach to the storage of textbooks and other printed materials.
I could see the flames from Bayamon PR a good 10 miles from the Tank Farm. The smoke cloud was clearly visible from Barceloneta and even further 30-40 miles out
1:03 "...and the comapny did not have to implement safeguards that could have prevented explosions..."
Thanks EPA for saving us from job-killing regulation!
Thumbs up but it's probably not the EPA what wants to protect us from job-killing regulations, it's the politicians.
Epa to busy going after folks that try to keep warm by burning fire wood thank you Dan quail
Quite shocking. But I still have a question that hasn't been answered in this film: Every tank has its own containment dike. And of course there is a need to drain rainwater from this containment through outlets. What should be done to prevent overflow pouring through these outlets? Connecting the valves with the overflow alarm?
This might be a bit late, but bunds should be sized to hold 110% of the maximum capacity of the largest tank or drum in the bunded area (secondary containment or as you referred to it, containment dike). If you use a pump to pump rainwater away you then control what you release from the bund. the sizing is obviously depends on the country's rules and regulations.
There are a lot of useful videos here. I'm going to recommend them to our management.
This was on my recommendation and I still watch it till the end...
It’s a good feeling to know I have 2 of these tanks within a hundred yards of my home.
I'd start looking for a new house >.>
This is way better than discover channel, graphics cinematographics, and most importantly objective.
7th night in row watching these videos. Help
God bless you, Captain Hindsight!
I hate to bring politics into youtube, but Trump wants to get rid of any environmental regulations. Expect to see more of these
Well a lot of these Incidents happened in the Obama days soooooo
When I was a kid I took 6 gallons of gas dumped it on a huge brush pile and lit it with a bottle rocket. It "blew up" almost in slow motion, more like a fast burn and a roar. But standing 150ft away it sucked the air out of your lungs for a second. I can only imagine how they felt after that explosion, waiting for the oxygen to come back.
I love how the animation characters all have hunch necks, it reminds me of TF2
10:06 TANKfully, no one was seriously injured or killed as a result of the explosion and fires at CAPECO
or should i say, TANK-FULLY
All for the sake of a tank level monitor which most smart people would have on a large water tank let alone a poisonous, flammable, expensive, dangerous, dwindling resource. No words to describe how utterly appalling and stupid this is and how simply it could have been avoided! Hope the company paid massively.
Did you watch the video? They had electronic tank level monitors, but sometimes they'd get struck by lightning etc and then the crew would have to resort to the old school float level monitoring method.
@@Syclone0044 no one said anything about lightning
@@Syclone0044okay so why not add multiple for redundancy? keep licking boots idiot
Next time you're having a bad day at work, just think "Well, at least I didn't blow up a tank farm today".
TLI -Tank Level Indicator: used by the US NAVY. Incorporates the use of "overlapping" Float Switches with resistors inside them.
For Example:
10Volts=100% 0Volts = 0% Full
Also, if any of the lower Float switches fail, any of the upper Float switches will override its predecessor.
When you're in control of that amount of flammable liquid you would think your protocol and procedures would be absolute how careless that's not a business to be in the guessing game
Ah yes I remember this day well... I was in middle school and 8 hours after this event I was due to be at school not even a mile away from this.
Man 😳 i was too little to know
how about an emergency overfill float sensor that governs an automatic emergency shutoff valve to the tank. Mr. Hindsight has spoken.
This is what deregulation looks like.
I'm not so sure they have any regulations in Puerto Rico judging from my last visit.....
US loves it as a territory but I have a few feeling why, and this is a good examplr
7:17... sooo for want of a ballcock valve and a gauge glass... how many millions were spent ?
Sooo that transmitter is not SIL certified in any way!
Should have something like an endress hauser liquiphant level switch (EX-I) in the top of the tank, going to a safety PLC cutting off inlets...
Who signed off on that design? In Europe the manufacturer has to CE-certify it, this would never be accepted.
+Seroster Installing a safety PLC would be a good idea. One for each tank & a master PLC for the tank farm. Only if all the required conditions are satisfied would the flow of flammable liquids be "enabled". Todays PLCs can be configured so that they can't be bypassed.
Also an interlock clear signal could be periodically transmitted to the pumping equipment at the unloading docs. If the interlock clear signal is missing the pumps would automatically shut down.
trespire My day work involves service of the electrical safety systems involved in compressing biomethane to several hundred bars, I'v dealt with both Jokab (ABB) Pluto series and Siemens S7(FS) series safety plcs, along with lots of ATEX-rated NAMUR/HART transmitters and switches.
I have yet to find a safety function I can not bypass, given free access to the electrical cabinets. ;)
I think it was noted in the video the lack of regulations regarding storage farms, I.E refining gasoline is highly regulated but keeping thousands of liters of it is not.
No no no, you'd better with an osterhagen key linked to serial bowl and triple overhead underhangs, for redundancy, especially when storing nellie D oliphants.
@@Serostern Then tell us how many of your colleagues would even consider bypassing any safety in such dangerous environment!
It's not a question if certain things can be done.. It's a question if any technician would do it!
I work as smith/technician in stainless steel. Absolutely no one would bypass safety or cut corners in this business..
Neither ignoring anyone even talking about such actions.
Social excluded from the team & fired by first opportunity
Bypassing safety features was necessary to run I/O checks of the equipment before being sent out to customers.
If people bypass safety features is largely a product of the workplace culture, in many places the pressure to keep production running blinds managers and workers alike.
Watching this is like the Air Crash Investigation on National Geographic type of documentary, love it
Same thing happened at Buncefield Storage Facility England in 2005, two safety systems failed, will they ever learn NO.
According to the video, the UK put in new regulations after Buncefield that CSB recommends the American industry use a version of.
Surely. Lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place?
The question is why did the US agency wait until they had a Buncefield of their own before making changes?
Oh wow, really? Now we know who didn't watch the video
Why it isn't SOP to have at least 3 separate monitoring systems for something as dangerous as bulk-storage gasoline is beyond me. This level of idiocy should be criminal to allow anywhere near such materials.
Thank God there were not any fatalities associated with this incident.
God didn't start it and idiots like you perpetuate it.
Patrick S Shut up, God doesn't kill humans. Humans kill humans
Yay, someone had to say it.
Patrick S Jeez you really flew off in the wrong direction really fast there. It's peculiar that you're blaming God for things that obviously wasn't His will. Maybe you aren't aware we're living in a fallen world and things happen that aren't God's will. You might want to brush up on some elementary scripture reading.
Amen to that !! exactly what I was thinking
I flew over Buncefield on my delayed flight to Luton from Edinburgh the following day. It was an incredible, but frightening sight. Thank God nobody was killed that day.
As with most of these type of incidents, there is always a certain amount of stupidity and lack of foresight involved. Why on earth would they not have a warning system in place to alert them that a tank was getting critically full? With such highly inflammable contents one would expect that would be the very least they would do !
I worked as a subcontractor at tank fields in Knoxville Tennessee and Augusta Georgia in the early 90s.... Always, I felt that the vents should have had warning devices at the vents. I was heckled by others for this thinking.
But if we add all the extra layers of safety to these places, that's less industrial accident videos for me to watch. :'(
They "only" overfilled it by 200,000 gallons?
That’s a big spill of gasoline. 200,000 gallons. About 5000 BBL’s... they should of had someone watching that tank so that didn’t happen. Or measured it by hand.
I like how this is randomly recomended to me
It's 2:00 am. Why the fuck am I watching this?
Holy shit 4:51 that footage is fucking scary
LOOK AT THAT WAVE OF FLAMES
Bro imagine seeing something like that coming for you