Happy New Year thank you for tuning in, here's to a great 2023!!! This weeks Outro Song in Full: th-cam.com/video/k8GMl6aQC-g/w-d-xo.html Also any suggestions for future explosions?? Let me know!!
Since you mentioned the transport museum, I wondered if you had taken the Glasgow Central Railway Station tour? It goes under the station to an abandoned platform from the Victorian era. I'm not in the best of shape and haven't done it myself, but I have heard it's excellent. If you haven't done it, then list it under things to do if/when you visit Glasgow again!
As a plastics expert, for my career, those hot autoclavers (ovens) to heat coated plastics are something you need to be constantly monitoring. They take a lot of energy and run hot nearly 24/7. Safety needs to be a primary concern, which sounds elementary and obvious, but it isn't often enough when you also consider that plastic pre-polymers can be toxic before cured into their final forms as well meaning they could create deadly airborne toxins. At my facility, we have our own personalized rebreathers and non-production personnel are banned from approximately 30% of the entire facility to avoid dangerous areas altogether.
As a safety supplier I like the sounds of this, do you guys use 3M PAPR units or do you have SCBAs? Sounds almost similar to the nuclear boiler production facility we supply in my city, we've sold close to 300 PAPR units to their fabricators
Also the ovens make me think of glass production facilities and the massive startup and shutdown times required for those beasts, always sounded like a nightmare
God I'm just rambling now, but my dad worked for a plastics compounder and they received a mislabeled railcar and accidentally produced mustard gas, I'm assuming that doesn't happen as often now. Their rail manager was canned shortly following that incident I believe lol
@@maxhill7065lol sorry I know this isn't the case but I'm imagining you just rubbing your hands together like "hmmm YES SAFETY oh I have these very nice respirators for sale, yes please think of safety and buy, thank you" 😇🤣 but really, it's so important you can't put a dollar amount on people's lives and health
@@maxhill7065 I don't know, but I do know our autoclaves are one-offs, custom builds, not sure if they use 3M. I'm in sales and corporate training (for the sales staff) so I'm a material expert not a production expert.
As someone who works in gas, I'm shocked to not have heard anything said about any odorant of any kind. Propane and natural gas in America have to have mercaptan added to highlight if there are any gas leaks, as both gasses are odorless. Mercaptan smells like a mix of foot cheese and swamp ass and is incredibly powerful, even small leaks stand out. A leak of that size would've been noticeable from 2 kilometers away or more. Not to mention, no pressure testing done on industrial piping is always a bad plan. Lots of negligence in this one
That explains why after desasters people say they smell gas in America! Idk if they have any smell additives here (Germany), but I do know we have a gas alarm at home which alerts to any gas leaks and from my education it's always been presented as an invisible killer. But my education is average citizen who's never given it a second thought.
@@littleloner1159 Easy way to check is to briefly turn on and off a gas stove and not have it light, and take a whiff. It won't harm you, but if the odorant is in there you'll know what the smell is in the future. Knowing what you're smelling can be really important to be able to keep yourself safe in the future
"foot Cheese and swamp ass". As someone who 40 years worked for a company whose building had a gas leak at least every 6 months, that is exactly what mercaptan smells like. I always said it smelled like a very bad fact. Either way, there is no way you can miss when a gas leak is detected.
@@littleloner1159it's practically harmless if you're not in an enclosed space, that's why if you ever suspect it in your house or wherever, open windows or if you feel woozy at all go straight outside until the fire department can come and test
My fiancée’s grandfather was one of the first amongst the rubble trying to help survivors, he was walking home from the nearby shops to his home around the corner from the original site. Still amazes me to this day as you’d never expect it from him being the most placid, laid back man on the planet ❤
I'm Glaswegian and remember that day quite clearly. It was my day off work and I was planning a wander to the botanic gardens from the city centre but decided against it to go straight home. I literally would have walked past the Stockline plastics factory at roughly the time it exploded if I had decided to walk to the west end.
The head company did acknowledge their mistakes and treated victims and victims families with an impressive amount of respect and dignity! They even raised a memorial on site, with no hesitations or legal wranglings! I salute them for this! While there are fatal accidents in Scotland just like everywhere else, the Scottish really do take care of their own after the fact. You should have mentioned this. 🙂
Lol are you from their PR department? I find it bizarre that you call this disaster a "mistake" and you're so excited about something the company should do at the very least.
@@bunstructors8591 The company made mistakes which caused the disaster. So the use of Mistake is correct. He's not calling the disaster a mistake, he's calling what happened to cause it one. Which is was.
Was 8 years old and living in Clydebank (then as now) about 7-8 miles away when this happened, so I have little memory of it from the time. I am aware of the scars it left behind, particularly in that area of the city. The first major disaster that occurred in Glasgow that I vividly remember is the Clutha helicopter crash on 29th November 2013, particularly as I was attending college near to where the aforementioned pub was at the time and had walked past it on my way home that afternoon. Was surreal to say the least to see it all over every news channel the following morning, the images of the mangled tail of the helicopter sticking from the pub's roof still send a chill up my back even now.
I'll look that up. Catastrophic events close to us always stay with us. I remember a line in a book that said, a tornado outside our window that kills a dozen touches us more than an earthquake on the other side of the world that kills thousands.
I kinda remember the Stockline incident but I was at school at the time it happened so wouldn't have heard about it until I came home (if I heard about it at all until the news on TV at dinnertime), but I definitely remember the Clutha one.
I like the extra details you put into these videos. I watched Fascinating Horror's video covering this, but the thing about the ungalvanised pipework wasn't covered, if I recall correctly. Honestly, when it comes to aesthetics and covering up the pipes with concrete just to make it more visually appealing, I think aesthetics should be either put aside or have access plates above the pipelines just so they can be checked periodically.
Even as much as neatness can count in technical and engineering work, aesthetics and visual appeal are "icing on the cake". People forget too easily that it's a simple matter to make just about anything look appealing, even just to add on a covering so you don't have to look at the ugly parts... It's a whole new kettle of beans to make something THAT WORKS... My philosophy has always been to make the f*cking thing WORK first... THEN worry about what I can do about how it looks. It should work and be imminently reparable as the top two priorities, otherwise, maintenance gets neglected, and repairs get "kicked on down the road" until eventually a catastrophic failure befalls the system... BUT that's just my preference. I don't seem to know what everybody else wants, apparently... SO do with this what you will... ;o)
They're literally BURIED. Having done half an apprenticeship in corrosion control, there should've been cathodic protection or AT THE LEAST galvanised the pipe fittings. The fact they were ALSO galvanised is astounding. Especially stiff intended to be buried. Even above ground inside building stuff will have red oxide enamel at minimum.
You mean someone with enough brain cells they wouldn't want an non-serviceable toilet and they most certainly wouldn't want an explosive gas pipeline to be left to uncontrolled weathering would have to be calling the shots? Yeah, that would be swell, wouldn't it.
It is indeed surprising when companies are held accountable for their actions, especially when it comes to cases of negligence. It is all too common for companies to escape responsibility for their actions, and it is a positive step when they are held accountable and forced to take responsibility for their mistakes.
Yeah I really wouldn't call 200k being held accountable. Now if it were 200k per worker killed and injured maybe, but even that would still not be enough.
200k per worker death would be a joke, lifetime earnings, loss of life, family impact etc should be 2mill plus per person as comp then fines on top in the 50 mill or 5 years total post tax profits range for causing death by negligence then huge levies for increased more robust yearly inspections at all other sites which will reduce to normal levels after 10 years of good management.
Thank you for your weekly entertainment. I have enjoyed the years of videos you have made, and am grateful that your passion aligns with my interest. Thanks for what you do, sir!
@Plainly Difficult Thank you John. One of a tiny number of channels that I respond to as soon as the videos are uploaded. Another Glasgow based accident would be the 2014 bin lorry crash. Relatively small in terms of scale, but given how ubiquitous bin lorries are I'm sure everyone would find it both interesting and alarming. Take care ✌️
@Castleview Good call. I live in Clarkston, and pass one of the two memorials* every day. Also, apparently one of the victims lived in the house now owned by my parents. My parents bought the house in 1983, and our neighbour, who was a good age at the time, (having lived there for decades) told us, though I've never been inclined to verify this. *There's one at the train station entrance and another at Clarkston Halls.
I always enjoy your videos. The research and and your story telling really are top notch. One little detail that I want to point out is that of all the creators I watch regularly, you are the only one to perfectly set up the mid-roll ad breaks in your videos. Some people get close but your videos are spot on every time. Never getting a word chopped off, the screen always fades and has a transition. Your productions are impeccable. Thanks for being awesome and happy new year.
I'd love to see you make a video covering the old Columbia Mills factory, which was located in Minetto, NY. I've had a heck of a time finding more info, but allegedly the fabric being made there caused illnesses in the workers and polluted the local land.
I found an interesting "record of decision" regarding the cleanup, from the NY Department of Environmental Conservation. They refer to it as site 7-38-012. Unfortunately the copy available online has missing pages, I suspect it was carelessly scanned. Specifically mentioned contaminants include asbestos and various solvents, which are pretty usual in older industrial sites, plasticizers which is to be expected from the vinyl products, but also PCBs, PAHs, and an assortment of metals.
Hello John !! I’m a new subscriber to your TH-cam channel from Canada 🇨🇦 Really enjoy the videos and your attention to detail and history of each disaster. Fascinating stuff although tragic also. A very HAppy New Year🎉 to you and look forward to more fascinating videos in 2023. Much success and good health in 2023! Laura from🇨🇦👌😊
I heard alot about Maryhill, Glasgow, Scotland growing up as a child. My Gran was born there in the early 1930s before she moved over to USA in the 1950s. She'd talk about Hopehill Road and her life growing up in and around Glasgow. I found this video fascinating due to my connection to the area through her. I just wish we hadn't lost her in 2007 because I am sure she'd have lots more tidbits of info to share
They didn’t even bother with a steel hatch into the basement. “Just plate it, bro. It’s all good, nobody needs access into the basement of a building with highly toxic and flammable gas. Nothing can go wrong!”
Likewise the Nobel explosives van explosion in Fengate, Peterborough the next year (1989-03-22). I heard that when I was at the old passport office the other side of town.
Thank you John for your dedication and attention to detail in all your productions. I have really enjoyed them this whole year. I hope you have a great New Year and enjoy some free time and that your weather improves as it makes me sad whenever you say what your weather is....rain....chill....gloom. Cheers! >^*^
I'm not in the UK and this is the first I've heard of the Stockline disaster. I'm surprised the gas supply companies weren't also found liable for not reporting to an outside regulatory body the inability to inspect the entire pipework/ refusing to supply gas until rectified. Would that not be expected in the UK?
The gas company responsibility ends at the tank they put the lpg into. Its not a permanent gas connection, but filled occasionally by truck. The issues here are original installation of underground galvanised pipe (compliant at the time of installation) Subsequent yard work, hurrying the pipe even deeper. But far and away most significant is completely inadequate inspection. All commercial gas installations require anual certification. Someone dropped the ball, that pipe wouldn't pass regs now.
as a gasfitter, i'd like to say that as you referenced earlier in the story the pipe wasn't galvanizeed. it's not allowed in gas piping. the way the pipe was put down at the start was correct. it should have been tarred and wrapped, as steel line was in the day when it was covered in dirt. nowadays they use polyethylene plastic underground.
@@EatingMachine23 reacts with trace sulphur in gas. and the threads aren't protected, making them prone to corrosion. sulphur is removed enough nowadays to not be a problem with reaction, allowing even copper to be used. . at 1 time it couldn't be used either.
I recently discovered your channel and have been enjoying your videos very much. One of my favorite channels is Ask a Mortician, so that tells you a lot about me. 😁 I just want to say a big thank you and Happy New Year.
Went through Wikipedia's list of explosions (yeah that's a thing) last night and was amazed to see how many there were. Some I wouldn't put on the list, but... Plenty of material for 2023. I'm seeing a lot of similarities with pipeline accidents however, in terms of a buried pipeline that nobody knew was either ther or damaged, it ruptured and went off
Hey Plain, you should look into Rana Plaza incident. A garments production building collapsed and many of the workers were stuck inside. I remember seeing the live rescue footage back when it happened Much love from Bangladesh
I recall this tragedy very well unfortunately. It was the ultimate test for all of the attending emergency services. I remember the Chief Fire Officer Brian Sweeney of the then Strathclyde Fire Brigade reassuring the public that everyone would be found regardless if they had survived or not. The service had only recently taken delivery of urban search and rescue units and - thanks to assistance from other UK fire brigades - everyone was found eventually. R.I.P to everyone that died.
Mines rescue and voluntary Search and rescue groups were involved over the two day search for survivors .the area looked like an earthquake had occurred .
As the slightly uneducated father of a really clever engineer who scrambles for understanding via this and many other engineering related channels (a plainly difficult endeavour) I hope you and yours have a great new year. $0.02
Thank you for your very informative and obviously well researched tales. Wishing you a very happy new year and look forward to your weather reports (amongst other things.😁)
5:01 I get this. Used to work for a company called Morgan Advanced Materials, but they still referred to their former name: Certech. They used both names interchangeably. I can imagine this causing some confusion.
I’m from Scotland, about 4/5 hours North and West of Glasgow. I was pregnant with my 3rd kid when this happened and I remember it well….husband is a paramedic and I was a nurse. Watching the recovery effort and hoping they pulled more folk out that would survive but knowing that crush injuries are grim and once folk are released after being trapped for a while the toxins that build up are suddenly let loose and can kill someone who was talking to you a few minutes earlier….it’s heartbreaking. What impresses me about living in Scotland and the UK is that our emergency services are excellent when dealing with mass casualty scenarios and you’ll find that nearly every civilian that happens to be in the area when something happens will do their best to help people who’re having the worst day of their life. When I read about folk from the USA who are reluctant to help for fear of being sued makes me pretty angry. The USA has the most screwed-up healthcare system in the world and cares more about making massive profits than caring for the vulnerable and it’s so wrong. This incident in 2004 is a prime example of Scotland looking after it’s people. I have a chronic medical condition which means I have to take lots of medication and have to go for hospital checks twice a year….my prescription is free and so is my mri scan etc.
One possible aggravating circumstance here involves the gasline buried in the ground. As most here know, you can't smell natural gas or propane, so they add an odorant, mercaptan in the US, I'm not sure what's used in the UK. In one case here in the US, a cracked underground gas line outside the building led to an explosion. The gas traveled through the easiest to pass through ground, that which had been turned up when the line was emplaced, and leached into the building. The soil acted as a filter and held back the mercaptan, so the leaking gas wasn't able to be smelled in the building that ended up exploding. I wonder if something similar could have happened here, eliminating the warning time you might otherwise have had?
Your channel is brilliant keep it up. Few you should look into from glasgow is Cheapside Street whisky bond fire 1960. Kilbirnie Street fire 1972. Clutha bar helicopter crash 2013. Glasgow bin lorry crash 2014. Sure this will be loads more. Happy new year when it cones
Happy New Year, John! I have a suggestion - the A-6 Beaune Bus Crash in 1982, a truly tragic accident that saw the deaths of 53 people, 44 of which were children.
I thought i already subbed to this channel but apparently I didnt and just have been binge watching your channel and liking videos 😂 so here goes a sub for ya 😁 love your voice thank you for your hard work & the content is fantastic.
In the US direct burial of gas lines below an enclosed area is prohibited by building codes. There is a code compliant workaround. Instead of direct burial the gas line is routed through an outer pipe (PVC is acceptable) and the outer pipe is vented to the atmosphere external to the building. Thus, if a leak should develop in the supply line any gas escapes externally to the enclosure.
I used to work in a bakery that had the propane line under the parking lot. It was at least thirty years old with no way to check it. We had multiple leaks from the aging stoves and water heater, with people fainting, getting a fireball to the face, and me personally getting carbon monoxide poisoning from working over a leaking stove.
I feel like not enough emphasis in the criminal and civil cases was placed on the regulators who allowed this to happen. Relying on businesses to inspect and self govern is a recipe for disaster. Any gas regulatory body should have been severely penalized for allowing this plant to continue with such unsafe pipework.
You should do a video on the i40 bridge near-disaster in Memphis, TN in the US. Luckily no one got hurt, but it cost the economy millions with the bridge being closed and the investigation as to how no one noticed the crack on inspections was interesting.
The Stockline Plastic Disaster" video covers a catastrophic event that occurred in 2004 when an explosion at the Stockline Plastics factory in Glasgow, Scotland, killed nine people and injured 33 others. The video likely details the causes, the investigation that followed, and the impact on safety regulations in industrial workplaces. It serves as a stark reminder of the importance of stringent safety measures and the tragic consequences of neglecting them.
A subsidiary of Stockline, or ICL had a unit in Pollokshaws, South of Glasgow which were featured in a Channel Four documentary some years back. They were making the plastic components for foot and hand shackles which had a Taser fitted! They showed undercover reporters their clear plastic riot shields with a Taser coil facing forward!!! These were obviously for torture and “civil pacification”. They had export licenses for some shady Countries like China and Burma, which I think were pulled after the docco aired. I live in Glasgow and remember the Companies name from years back. I was surprised that they were still trading to be honest. On a side note, please look at the Armley asbestos scandal. JW Roberts in Leeds, pissing blue asbestos into the local area for years, causing huge suffering and illness which T&N the parent company, spent decades denying and covering up.
I experienced a moment of nerd-vana when you interrupted your introduction to rate Glasgow's transportation museum (do visit the one in Spencer, North Carolina if you ever travel in the eastern US).
My dad installs and services commercial, and residential furnaces. I had to bring him something once and he was actually redoing a gas line that the buried in cement. Going up to the building. The frost we get here would have eventually shift the cement snapped the copper pipe and filling the church with natural gas.
Aha! I knew it! That guy at 4:41 who was once an Underground train driver, an oil rig engineer, a tug boat captain, and a slew of other jobs that resulted in disaster had a hand in this!!!
@@reddwarfer999 There's a lot of different chemicals involved in plastic manufacturing, many of which are significantly more dangerous than said plastic. It's not uncommon for raw materials to have a higher burning temperature than the end product. I used to work in medical manufacturing, specifically I worked on electroplating small metal parts. The parts themselves weren't inherently dangerous, but we all had a very thorough briefing on handling the chemicals because one of them, KFe, would produce cyanide gas when combined with any acid of which we worked with several. Different details, obviously, but the point is that the end product isn't always the highest risk material in a manufacturing facility. Of course it's totally possible you were joking in which case don't mind me, I take things way too seriously lmao
@@SparkleFoxMutt This was a plastic moulding factory that manufactured products from plastic beads, it wasn't manufacturing the actual plastic itself. Raw materials that go into plastics (like ethylene) may well burn hotter than the plastic itsef but this isn't what happened here.
While the situation is still unfolding. When the fires concluded and investigations are done, you should make a video on the Richmond, IN plastic facility fire.
Great video. One concern, the LPG in the atmosphere would just be propane gas. A leak could occur with the liquid, but this would go into the atmosphere as propane gas over time. The gas is what is particularly hazardous, more so than any liquid pool.
Thanks for this. One note though - I wish you had explained what LPG means since I had to google that to understand what was being said. English is not my first language and I don't think I have ever heard that term before. If anyone else is also wondering, it stands for liquefied petroleum gas.
Propane, butane or a mix of them. Turns to liquid at a reasonable low pressure and can put in all kinds of simple tanks from cigarette lighters to 10,000 or more liter tanks at homes and businesses
Happy New Year thank you for tuning in, here's to a great 2023!!!
This weeks Outro Song in Full: th-cam.com/video/k8GMl6aQC-g/w-d-xo.html
Also any suggestions for future explosions?? Let me know!!
Happy new year John. I love your videos and music 🎉
Another suggestion for a future explosion video would be the 1992 explosions at Guadalajara, México.
Since you mentioned the transport museum, I wondered if you had taken the Glasgow Central Railway Station tour? It goes under the station to an abandoned platform from the Victorian era. I'm not in the best of shape and haven't done it myself, but I have heard it's excellent. If you haven't done it, then list it under things to do if/when you visit Glasgow again!
What's your intro music?
Happy New Year, John!
As a plastics expert, for my career, those hot autoclavers (ovens) to heat coated plastics are something you need to be constantly monitoring. They take a lot of energy and run hot nearly 24/7. Safety needs to be a primary concern, which sounds elementary and obvious, but it isn't often enough when you also consider that plastic pre-polymers can be toxic before cured into their final forms as well meaning they could create deadly airborne toxins. At my facility, we have our own personalized rebreathers and non-production personnel are banned from approximately 30% of the entire facility to avoid dangerous areas altogether.
As a safety supplier I like the sounds of this, do you guys use 3M PAPR units or do you have SCBAs? Sounds almost similar to the nuclear boiler production facility we supply in my city, we've sold close to 300 PAPR units to their fabricators
Also the ovens make me think of glass production facilities and the massive startup and shutdown times required for those beasts, always sounded like a nightmare
God I'm just rambling now, but my dad worked for a plastics compounder and they received a mislabeled railcar and accidentally produced mustard gas, I'm assuming that doesn't happen as often now. Their rail manager was canned shortly following that incident I believe lol
@@maxhill7065lol sorry I know this isn't the case but I'm imagining you just rubbing your hands together like "hmmm YES SAFETY oh I have these very nice respirators for sale, yes please think of safety and buy, thank you" 😇🤣 but really, it's so important you can't put a dollar amount on people's lives and health
@@maxhill7065 I don't know, but I do know our autoclaves are one-offs, custom builds, not sure if they use 3M. I'm in sales and corporate training (for the sales staff) so I'm a material expert not a production expert.
As someone who works in gas, I'm shocked to not have heard anything said about any odorant of any kind. Propane and natural gas in America have to have mercaptan added to highlight if there are any gas leaks, as both gasses are odorless. Mercaptan smells like a mix of foot cheese and swamp ass and is incredibly powerful, even small leaks stand out. A leak of that size would've been noticeable from 2 kilometers away or more. Not to mention, no pressure testing done on industrial piping is always a bad plan. Lots of negligence in this one
That explains why after desasters people say they smell gas in America!
Idk if they have any smell additives here (Germany), but I do know we have a gas alarm at home which alerts to any gas leaks and from my education it's always been presented as an invisible killer. But my education is average citizen who's never given it a second thought.
@@littleloner1159 Easy way to check is to briefly turn on and off a gas stove and not have it light, and take a whiff. It won't harm you, but if the odorant is in there you'll know what the smell is in the future. Knowing what you're smelling can be really important to be able to keep yourself safe in the future
"foot Cheese and swamp ass". As someone who 40 years worked for a company whose building had a gas leak at least every 6 months, that is exactly what mercaptan smells like. I always said it smelled like a very bad fact. Either way, there is no way you can miss when a gas leak is detected.
@@tuxitalk4-tuxipolitixpage772 That must be a pretty bad fact.
@@littleloner1159it's practically harmless if you're not in an enclosed space, that's why if you ever suspect it in your house or wherever, open windows or if you feel woozy at all go straight outside until the fire department can come and test
My fiancée’s grandfather was one of the first amongst the rubble trying to help survivors, he was walking home from the nearby shops to his home around the corner from the original site. Still amazes me to this day as you’d never expect it from him being the most placid, laid back man on the planet ❤
I'm Glaswegian and remember that day quite clearly. It was my day off work and I was planning a wander to the botanic gardens from the city centre but decided against it to go straight home. I literally would have walked past the Stockline plastics factory at roughly the time it exploded if I had decided to walk to the west end.
Bollocks
Freaky
And I'm the queen of england
A lucky decision to go home then.
The head company did acknowledge their mistakes and treated victims and victims families with an impressive amount of respect and dignity! They even raised a memorial on site, with no hesitations or legal wranglings! I salute them for this! While there are fatal accidents in Scotland just like everywhere else, the Scottish really do take care of their own after the fact. You should have mentioned this. 🙂
Given the general anticapitalist bent of the usual commenters here, it's more popular to bash than to praise, sadly.
Lol are you from their PR department? I find it bizarre that you call this disaster a "mistake" and you're so excited about something the company should do at the very least.
Is everything they did after the fact cheaper than it was to be safe in the first place?
@@morgan4574 The directors on site were killed. I don't think there was any conscious intention to cut corners.
@@bunstructors8591 The company made mistakes which caused the disaster. So the use of Mistake is correct. He's not calling the disaster a mistake, he's calling what happened to cause it one. Which is was.
Was 8 years old and living in Clydebank (then as now) about 7-8 miles away when this happened, so I have little memory of it from the time. I am aware of the scars it left behind, particularly in that area of the city.
The first major disaster that occurred in Glasgow that I vividly remember is the Clutha helicopter crash on 29th November 2013, particularly as I was attending college near to where the aforementioned pub was at the time and had walked past it on my way home that afternoon. Was surreal to say the least to see it all over every news channel the following morning, the images of the mangled tail of the helicopter sticking from the pub's roof still send a chill up my back even now.
I'll look that up. Catastrophic events close to us always stay with us. I remember a line in a book that said, a tornado outside our window that kills a dozen touches us more than an earthquake on the other side of the world that kills thousands.
I kinda remember the Stockline incident but I was at school at the time it happened so wouldn't have heard about it until I came home (if I heard about it at all until the news on TV at dinnertime), but I definitely remember the Clutha one.
I like the extra details you put into these videos. I watched Fascinating Horror's video covering this, but the thing about the ungalvanised pipework wasn't covered, if I recall correctly. Honestly, when it comes to aesthetics and covering up the pipes with concrete just to make it more visually appealing, I think aesthetics should be either put aside or have access plates above the pipelines just so they can be checked periodically.
Even as much as neatness can count in technical and engineering work, aesthetics and visual appeal are "icing on the cake". People forget too easily that it's a simple matter to make just about anything look appealing, even just to add on a covering so you don't have to look at the ugly parts... It's a whole new kettle of beans to make something THAT WORKS...
My philosophy has always been to make the f*cking thing WORK first... THEN worry about what I can do about how it looks. It should work and be imminently reparable as the top two priorities, otherwise, maintenance gets neglected, and repairs get "kicked on down the road" until eventually a catastrophic failure befalls the system...
BUT that's just my preference. I don't seem to know what everybody else wants, apparently... SO do with this what you will... ;o)
They're literally BURIED. Having done half an apprenticeship in corrosion control, there should've been cathodic protection or AT THE LEAST galvanised the pipe fittings. The fact they were ALSO galvanised is astounding. Especially stiff intended to be buried. Even above ground inside building stuff will have red oxide enamel at minimum.
You mean someone with enough brain cells they wouldn't want an non-serviceable toilet and they most certainly wouldn't want an explosive gas pipeline to be left to uncontrolled weathering would have to be calling the shots? Yeah, that would be swell, wouldn't it.
I remember this very well.
A truly awful incident - I'll be very interested to see @Plainly Difficult's take on this.
Thank you John - as expected an excellent overview of the accident.
It is indeed surprising when companies are held accountable for their actions, especially when it comes to cases of negligence. It is all too common for companies to escape responsibility for their actions, and it is a positive step when they are held accountable and forced to take responsibility for their mistakes.
I guess that 'accountability' comes cheap. The 200k fine is a joke, it's hardly justice.
Yeah I really wouldn't call 200k being held accountable. Now if it were 200k per worker killed and injured maybe, but even that would still not be enough.
200k per worker death would be a joke, lifetime earnings, loss of life, family impact etc should be 2mill plus per person as comp then fines on top in the 50 mill or 5 years total post tax profits range for causing death by negligence then huge levies for increased more robust yearly inspections at all other sites which will reduce to normal levels after 10 years of good management.
They were held to no accountability whatsoever. They did not even get a slap on the wrist. What a joke.
Thank you for your weekly entertainment. I have enjoyed the years of videos you have made, and am grateful that your passion aligns with my interest. Thanks for what you do, sir!
Wow, thank you!
@@PlainlyDifficultI second this! I watch every episode! I work in power plants (gas turbines) and I find your sense of humor on point.
The Clutha Vaults police helicopter crash would be another very interesting Glasgow based disaster to look at.
Thank you!
@Plainly Difficult Thank you John.
One of a tiny number of channels that I respond to as soon as the videos are uploaded.
Another Glasgow based accident would be the 2014 bin lorry crash.
Relatively small in terms of scale, but given how ubiquitous bin lorries are I'm sure everyone would find it both interesting and alarming.
Take care ✌️
@@ianmacfarlane1241My Mother and I missed that by four minutes.
Also the 1971 Clarkston gas explosion, which was similar to this but has largely been forgotten over the years....
@Castleview Good call.
I live in Clarkston, and pass one of the two memorials* every day.
Also, apparently one of the victims lived in the house now owned by my parents.
My parents bought the house in 1983, and our neighbour, who was a good age at the time, (having lived there for decades) told us, though I've never been inclined to verify this.
*There's one at the train station entrance and another at Clarkston Halls.
Every time I see a new Plainly Difficult video pop into my feed, I do a little (inner) cheer. Kudos on all your awesome (and informative!) content!
I always enjoy your videos. The research and and your story telling really are top notch. One little detail that I want to point out is that of all the creators I watch regularly, you are the only one to perfectly set up the mid-roll ad breaks in your videos. Some people get close but your videos are spot on every time. Never getting a word chopped off, the screen always fades and has a transition. Your productions are impeccable. Thanks for being awesome and happy new year.
Thank you
John, how the heck do you not have a million subscribers yet? It amazes me that you put out the highest quality content yet people aren’t subscribed!
I'd love to see you make a video covering the old Columbia Mills factory, which was located in Minetto, NY. I've had a heck of a time finding more info, but allegedly the fabric being made there caused illnesses in the workers and polluted the local land.
I found an interesting "record of decision" regarding the cleanup, from the NY Department of Environmental Conservation. They refer to it as site 7-38-012. Unfortunately the copy available online has missing pages, I suspect it was carelessly scanned.
Specifically mentioned contaminants include asbestos and various solvents, which are pretty usual in older industrial sites, plasticizers which is to be expected from the vinyl products, but also PCBs, PAHs, and an assortment of metals.
@@CoastalSphinx yup! That's the only document I could find also. Thanks for adding some info here as well though!
Thank you for all the great content this year. You are exactly what I love about TH-cam
A classic case of "Out of sight, out of mind". This had faded from memory ☹
Hello John !! I’m a new subscriber to your TH-cam channel from Canada 🇨🇦 Really enjoy the videos and your attention to detail and history of each disaster. Fascinating stuff although tragic also. A very HAppy New Year🎉 to you and look forward to more fascinating videos in 2023. Much success and good health in 2023! Laura from🇨🇦👌😊
Another great video ^^
A topic for a video in the future could be the collapse of the city archive of Cologne. Fascinating case there.
Great suggestion!
Thank you so much for a great and educating 2022. And happy new year to you and your family.
Thank you too!
That’s crazy, i couldn’t imagine being the first responders that had to deal with that. I really like your new rating scale.
It changes you alot
@@dacomazielsdorf7618 I imagine it does. Therapy for certain.
Happy New Year John. Have a good one. Looking forward to watching more of your videos in 2023!
I remember this tragedy. It was even reported here in the States. Thanks for posting. 👍
Hello, John, your videos are quite interesting and informative besides well produced. Keep up the great work!
I heard alot about Maryhill, Glasgow, Scotland growing up as a child. My Gran was born there in the early 1930s before she moved over to USA in the 1950s. She'd talk about Hopehill Road and her life growing up in and around Glasgow. I found this video fascinating due to my connection to the area through her. I just wish we hadn't lost her in 2007 because I am sure she'd have lots more tidbits of info to share
3:04 As soon as you said "buried pipe" - I knew that was the cause, as I haven't previously heard of this disaster.
Thanks for all the wonderful videos in 2022 as well as the fantastic music. Can't wait to see what you mix up for us in 2023.
Thank you!
Nice video. Can't wait for your album to be fully released. I pre-ordered it as soon as it came out! Love your work! Keep it up!
Thank you John for the video. I had already heard of the incident, and I appreciated your throughout coverage.
Happy New Year!
Anthony
Thank you John!! Happy New Year!! Can't wait to see what you have in store for 2023!!
Happy new year from Australia!
And to you from Adelaide
Hope 2023 treats you well. Thank you for the videos.
Same to you!
Happy New Year from a different Jon in a different rainy corner
Happy new year!
These workplace disasters ticks me off to no end. Imagine dying for a bunch of stupid plastic sheets.
They didn’t even bother with a steel hatch into the basement.
“Just plate it, bro. It’s all good, nobody needs access into the basement of a building with highly toxic and flammable gas. Nothing can go wrong!”
Going to be a great day John! New video to watch, new year to bring in!
The 1988 Peterborough Firework Factory Explosion might be worthy of a video. Keep up the good work.
Likewise the Nobel explosives van explosion in Fengate, Peterborough the next year (1989-03-22). I heard that when I was at the old passport office the other side of town.
use of the word leccy for a disaster that happened in glasgow is a nice touch lol
:D
Thank you John for your dedication and attention to detail in all your productions. I have really enjoyed them this whole year. I hope you have a great New Year and enjoy some free time and that your weather improves as it makes me sad whenever you say what your weather is....rain....chill....gloom. Cheers! >^*^
Happy new year from Adelaide Railway Station, South Australia. 🎉
Same to you!
I'm not in the UK and this is the first I've heard of the Stockline disaster. I'm surprised the gas supply companies weren't also found liable for not reporting to an outside regulatory body the inability to inspect the entire pipework/ refusing to supply gas until rectified. Would that not be expected in the UK?
The gas company responsibility ends at the tank they put the lpg into. Its not a permanent gas connection, but filled occasionally by truck.
The issues here are original installation of underground galvanised pipe (compliant at the time of installation)
Subsequent yard work, hurrying the pipe even deeper.
But far and away most significant is completely inadequate inspection.
All commercial gas installations require anual certification. Someone dropped the ball, that pipe wouldn't pass regs now.
Happy New Year to you John and colleagues and thank you for the consistently excellent content. Cheers!
Happy New Year and Thank You for an amazing year full of incredible videos.
as a gasfitter, i'd like to say that as you referenced earlier in the story the pipe wasn't galvanizeed.
it's not allowed in gas piping.
the way the pipe was put down at the start was correct.
it should have been tarred and wrapped, as steel line was in the day when it was covered in dirt.
nowadays they use polyethylene plastic underground.
That is interesting. I had assumed that was an error. Do you know why gas pipes are not allowed to be galvanised?
@@EatingMachine23 reacts with trace sulphur in gas. and the threads aren't protected, making them prone to corrosion.
sulphur is removed enough nowadays to not be a problem with reaction, allowing even copper to be used. . at 1 time it couldn't be used either.
@@hg60justice interesting stuff. Thank you for educating me 👍
there are many different voices on TH-cam but yours in the most delightful and interesting to listen to
I recently discovered your channel and have been enjoying your videos very much. One of my favorite channels is Ask a Mortician, so that tells you a lot about me. 😁 I just want to say a big thank you and Happy New Year.
WOO HOO!!! Another PD video! Happy New Year!
Happy new year John and fam, hope next year is good for everyone (yeah I'm hopelessly optimistic in the face of uncertainty) 👍
Went through Wikipedia's list of explosions (yeah that's a thing) last night and was amazed to see how many there were. Some I wouldn't put on the list, but...
Plenty of material for 2023. I'm seeing a lot of similarities with pipeline accidents however, in terms of a buried pipeline that nobody knew was either ther or damaged, it ruptured and went off
I always get excited for a new Plainly Difficult vid
Watched this on another channel only last week but yours had so much more info. Keep em comming
"hey babe wake up, plainly difficult just released a video"
Hey Plain, you should look into Rana Plaza incident. A garments production building collapsed and many of the workers were stuck inside. I remember seeing the live rescue footage back when it happened
Much love from Bangladesh
happy new year’s eve, john! looking forward to year 7
Same here!
I recall this tragedy very well unfortunately. It was the ultimate test for all of the attending emergency services. I remember the Chief Fire Officer Brian Sweeney of the then Strathclyde Fire Brigade reassuring the public that everyone would be found regardless if they had survived or not. The service had only recently taken delivery of urban search and rescue units and - thanks to assistance from other UK fire brigades - everyone was found eventually. R.I.P to everyone that died.
Mines rescue and voluntary Search and rescue groups were involved over the two day search for survivors .the area looked like an earthquake had occurred .
You had me with LPG heavier than air so almost undetectable especially covered with a sheet of Steel.
Add to that having a lot of plastic processing and storage taking place above that floor will tend to produce smells that mask that of LPG.
As the slightly uneducated father of a really clever engineer who scrambles for understanding via this and many other engineering related channels (a plainly difficult endeavour) I hope you and yours have a great new year. $0.02
I just looked on your channel and in "about" it has that you lurked on Live Leak from Tasmania ? Do you remeber me Edkemper ?
That’s so sweet of you. I’d love it if my dad did something like that. 😊
@@mattkemp3727 I can't be sure if I remember, but if you lurked the forum's, we would definitely have crossed paths. Those were good days.
@@MatthewHarrold I was a yoursayer with the likes of jr stress and sloop etc..yes good ole days
The outro song is an absolute banger
Thank you for your very informative and obviously well researched tales. Wishing you a very happy new year and look forward to your weather reports (amongst other things.😁)
Seriously good content,narration and editing. Top channel
Happy New Year! Thank you for all of your coverage this year - and for Mr. Music's contributions as well!
Happy new year, John.
Thank you and to you too
Thank you for this video, I had watched it before but I found myself today at the memorial garden for this so I felt I had to watch again.
Thank you and have a great week. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Just an FYI: There is no CPL in Scotland. It's the Procurator Fiscal.
Thank you for the video. Absolutely love the animations and cartoon stills.
thank you for subtitles!
5:01 I get this. Used to work for a company called Morgan Advanced Materials, but they still referred to their former name: Certech. They used both names interchangeably. I can imagine this causing some confusion.
LOVE the music this week!
Thank you
Still 6h50m to go but happy new-year john wish u all the best for the new year 💓
Great video John!
I’m from Scotland, about 4/5 hours North and West of Glasgow. I was pregnant with my 3rd kid when this happened and I remember it well….husband is a paramedic and I was a nurse. Watching the recovery effort and hoping they pulled more folk out that would survive but knowing that crush injuries are grim and once folk are released after being trapped for a while the toxins that build up are suddenly let loose and can kill someone who was talking to you a few minutes earlier….it’s heartbreaking. What impresses me about living in Scotland and the UK is that our emergency services are excellent when dealing with mass casualty scenarios and you’ll find that nearly every civilian that happens to be in the area when something happens will do their best to help people who’re having the worst day of their life. When I read about folk from the USA who are reluctant to help for fear of being sued makes me pretty angry. The USA has the most screwed-up healthcare system in the world and cares more about making massive profits than caring for the vulnerable and it’s so wrong. This incident in 2004 is a prime example of Scotland looking after it’s people. I have a chronic medical condition which means I have to take lots of medication and have to go for hospital checks twice a year….my prescription is free and so is my mri scan etc.
John have a wonderful 2023 !!!
I love the museum of transport and I'm glad you enjoyed it too!
One possible aggravating circumstance here involves the gasline buried in the ground. As most here know, you can't smell natural gas or propane, so they add an odorant, mercaptan in the US, I'm not sure what's used in the UK. In one case here in the US, a cracked underground gas line outside the building led to an explosion. The gas traveled through the easiest to pass through ground, that which had been turned up when the line was emplaced, and leached into the building. The soil acted as a filter and held back the mercaptan, so the leaking gas wasn't able to be smelled in the building that ended up exploding. I wonder if something similar could have happened here, eliminating the warning time you might otherwise have had?
Your channel is brilliant keep it up.
Few you should look into from glasgow is
Cheapside Street whisky bond fire 1960.
Kilbirnie Street fire 1972.
Clutha bar helicopter crash 2013.
Glasgow bin lorry crash 2014.
Sure this will be loads more.
Happy new year when it cones
Happy New Year Plainly Difficult, looking forward to your channel in 2023🎆🙏👍👻
Happy New Year, John! I have a suggestion - the A-6 Beaune Bus Crash in 1982, a truly tragic accident that saw the deaths of 53 people, 44 of which were children.
Great video.
Happy new year to you and yours
Thank you and you
@@PlainlyDifficult 👍👍
I thought i already subbed to this channel but apparently I didnt and just have been binge watching your channel and liking videos 😂 so here goes a sub for ya 😁 love your voice thank you for your hard work & the content is fantastic.
Awesome! Thank you!
In the US direct burial of gas lines below an enclosed area is prohibited by building codes. There is a code compliant workaround. Instead of direct burial the gas line is routed through an outer pipe (PVC is acceptable) and the outer pipe is vented to the atmosphere external to the building. Thus, if a leak should develop in the supply line any gas escapes externally to the enclosure.
“Reasonably Practicable..” is a minefield..
I used to work in a bakery that had the propane line under the parking lot. It was at least thirty years old with no way to check it. We had multiple leaks from the aging stoves and water heater, with people fainting, getting a fireball to the face, and me personally getting carbon monoxide poisoning from working over a leaking stove.
I feel like not enough emphasis in the criminal and civil cases was placed on the regulators who allowed this to happen. Relying on businesses to inspect and self govern is a recipe for disaster. Any gas regulatory body should have been severely penalized for allowing this plant to continue with such unsafe pipework.
You should do a video on the i40 bridge near-disaster in Memphis, TN in the US. Luckily no one got hurt, but it cost the economy millions with the bridge being closed and the investigation as to how no one noticed the crack on inspections was interesting.
The Stockline Plastic Disaster" video covers a catastrophic event that occurred in 2004 when an explosion at the Stockline Plastics factory in Glasgow, Scotland, killed nine people and injured 33 others. The video likely details the causes, the investigation that followed, and the impact on safety regulations in industrial workplaces. It serves as a stark reminder of the importance of stringent safety measures and the tragic consequences of neglecting them.
A subsidiary of Stockline, or ICL had a unit in Pollokshaws, South of Glasgow which were featured in a Channel Four documentary some years back. They were making the plastic components for foot and hand shackles which had a Taser fitted! They showed undercover reporters their clear plastic riot shields with a Taser coil facing forward!!! These were obviously for torture and “civil pacification”. They had export licenses for some shady Countries like China and Burma, which I think were pulled after the docco aired. I live in Glasgow and remember the Companies name from years back. I was surprised that they were still trading to be honest. On a side note, please look at the Armley asbestos scandal. JW Roberts in Leeds, pissing blue asbestos into the local area for years, causing huge suffering and illness which T&N the parent company, spent decades denying and covering up.
Quality as always 👍
Shame YT notification and sub are not working
I experienced a moment of nerd-vana when you interrupted your introduction to rate Glasgow's transportation museum (do visit the one in Spencer, North Carolina if you ever travel in the eastern US).
My dad installs and services commercial, and residential furnaces. I had to bring him something once and he was actually redoing a gas line that the buried in cement. Going up to the building. The frost we get here would have eventually shift the cement snapped the copper pipe and filling the church with natural gas.
Aha! I knew it! That guy at 4:41 who was once an Underground train driver, an oil rig engineer, a tug boat captain, and a slew of other jobs that resulted in disaster had a hand in this!!!
You might want to look at the Wrexham plastics factory that burned so intensely for days that it vaporised the steel frame of the building
Impossible. A plastics fire won't melt steel, let alone vaporise it.
@@reddwarfer999 There's a lot of different chemicals involved in plastic manufacturing, many of which are significantly more dangerous than said plastic. It's not uncommon for raw materials to have a higher burning temperature than the end product. I used to work in medical manufacturing, specifically I worked on electroplating small metal parts. The parts themselves weren't inherently dangerous, but we all had a very thorough briefing on handling the chemicals because one of them, KFe, would produce cyanide gas when combined with any acid of which we worked with several. Different details, obviously, but the point is that the end product isn't always the highest risk material in a manufacturing facility.
Of course it's totally possible you were joking in which case don't mind me, I take things way too seriously lmao
@@SparkleFoxMutt This was a plastic moulding factory that manufactured products from plastic beads, it wasn't manufacturing the actual plastic itself. Raw materials that go into plastics (like ethylene) may well burn hotter than the plastic itsef but this isn't what happened here.
Good to see one from my homeland. I was 11 year old when this happened so I remember it well.
While the situation is still unfolding. When the fires concluded and investigations are done, you should make a video on the Richmond, IN plastic facility fire.
1:20 NO SPITTING
Words to live by.
Are you going to do videos on East Palestine as it unfolds, or wait for the town to be made a superfund site and do a look back?
Great video. One concern, the LPG in the atmosphere would just be propane gas. A leak could occur with the liquid, but this would go into the atmosphere as propane gas over time. The gas is what is particularly hazardous, more so than any liquid pool.
Thanks for this. One note though - I wish you had explained what LPG means since I had to google that to understand what was being said. English is not my first language and I don't think I have ever heard that term before. If anyone else is also wondering, it stands for liquefied petroleum gas.
I'm American and I didn't know what LPG was
Propane, butane or a mix of them. Turns to liquid at a reasonable low pressure and can put in all kinds of simple tanks from cigarette lighters to 10,000 or more liter tanks at homes and businesses