Edward Hara "the head operator knew it was serious but didn't need immediate shutdown".(face palm) next second 💣💣💣💣💣💣💣💥💥💥💥💥💥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥💥💥💥💥🔥🔥💥🔥💥🔥💥💥💥💥💥🚒🚒🚒🚒🚒🚑🚑🚑🚑
After working in a refinery I learned that starting up and shutting down a unit has all kinds of other complications and dangers. Its not like turning a key off. Temperature and pressure spikes occur, instabilities happen. Refinery processes like steady state stable operations for months on end. Shutting down a process is not taken lightly by operators as other hazards can happen. Everybody is always on edge during process changes because that's when accidents occur. In my years there, money was never a concern regarding operation actions. Safety is the main concern. Upper management is aware of the revenue loss of shutting down production but the unit operators never give it a thought. Safety is stressed more than anything else in a refinery. Its still a dangerous place to work.
@@rileybobbert6527 he's referring to these starts don't extremely stupid stunts. Like poking a worn pipe with a sharp objects that's carrying warm hydrocarbon liquids.
2012-1976 = 36 years. What kind of mickey mouse operation doesn't change such a critical and highly stressed component in almost 4 decades? When they know of high wear? This isn't even greed, the bean counters said it should be inspected and tested then replaced but they just didn't do it. I hope this is a wakeup call, this could have killed so many people.
Followed by the three stooges level temporary repair operation. Man if I worked in a factory like that I'd be the guy who's always saying "Nope. Shut it down". How much do you have to get paid to be that stupid with your life? I've never made that much money.
Among the bosses those who shut down production don't get promoted. So they keep coming up with reasons and ways which like in this case are absolutely stupid just so they can say I tried this and it didn't work. In this case boss stupidity went beyond normal and luckily no one was killed.
It’s actually incredible that the workers without respirators on were able to make it out of the massive vapor cloud without suffocating. It’s also incredible the guy in the firetruck managed to run for it and made it out alive. These guys all withdrew from the luck bank that day
I'm really happy no one died during this incident. Imagine being that firefighter trapped inside the fire engine. Having to run through a wall of flames. Very brave dude.
Harlee Kindred He had a harsh choice to make. Get out NOW while he could, or sit and do nothing. If he sat and did nothing, the fire would probably have spread until he COULDN'T get out, and then he just gets roasted alive in that truck. If I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die TRYING. It's survival 101: Don't wait for a second chance that may not come. Take your best shot while you still can.
This is why I walked away from my $100k job years ago. They didn't shut down because it would mean less production... which means less money. They lose millions per hour when they stop production. Patches are always tried first. I've seen them weld on pipes with hot oil flowing in them. It's normal practice.
"...Replacement was recommended, but this did not occur." Jesus. Over and over again in these videos 'management' is given ample warning, and almost every time they sit on their hands. Why? To maintain production and max out their precious bonuses. All at the risk of life and limb, pushing critical maintenance out just long enough for them to be gone/retire. Then their replacements can always say that 'somebody else' made the decision before they got there. It's a system that rewards zero accountability. Disgusting. At least this time no one was killed. _This time._
Its a familiar story. I resigned for something similar, but it was an HCL pipe. It had degradated to 2mm and I wasn't able to shut it down because the so called Integrity Engineer gave the all clear to carry on.
@@dvaidr Absolutely, idiots such as described are always the winners,somehow or other, the reluctance to repair BEFORE it goes bang is beyond the capabilities of many in the 'managment areas of business, they are too short sighted to visualize that a stitch in time saves nine. Doh, even my grandma has that philosophy.!
Not just something. A pipe containing a high volume of hydrocarbons way above the ignition temperature, that has a direct line to the entire distillation tower.
This is a terrific youtube channel! The quality has improved a lot. I wish they would re-upload their old videos now that youtube allows better quality videos.
Amazingly detailed story. hopefully it may, just may convert some of the money hoarding managements to think, such a possibility has an excellent 1 in 10,000 chance of preventing similar 'accidents'.
@@terryofford4977 the bigger this channel gets.... the more people out there will see how greedy those refineries are and steer clear of working in them at all costs. It always seemed like a cool job to me but there’s no way in hell i wanna work at a refinery now 😅😅😅😅😅
Throwing water on a thin hot metal is a good way to cause warping causing any leaks to possibly amplify. Best to add that to some of those guys education when thinking about using a high flow rates that cause a lot of cooling on hot steels like that. Metal can even crack from being cooled fast.
Firefighters are trained to fight fires not to be mechanics. Chevron bosses wanted to keep production up and running. They knew the had a leak of hot hydrocarbons and could not stop the leak by closing a valve. They should have shut down production at that point because the pipe was insulated so they had no way to know how bad or big the leak was removing insulation which could be the one thing holding back a bigger leak was a criminal disregard of safety even if it had been done by mechanics.
@@tttarms1970 Exactly my point. It could very well be a valve could not be installed because if closed then there is no way for the gas oil to leave the distillation tower meaning the whole process leading up to the distillation tower would have to stop. The mechanics fix pipes because that is their job. They probably refused because they properly understood the danger of opening the pipe cover with a leaking pipe inside having a liquid hot enough to self ignite. Which is why the first fire occurred when firefighters were tasked with taking off the cover of the pipe. Not happy with starting one fire they then made the decision to try for a bigger one and then got what they should have expected. Also anyone with half a brain knows you don't hit a high temperature object ( 640 degrees F) with water unless your willing to destroy it by creating a huge temperature differential.
@@kimobrien. Your right Refinery firefighters should have only been there incase of fire. Well trained and certified mechanics should have been there, properly doing the work. I have weld inspection friends that do refinery inspections during running operations. My one friend told me, on a running line, that the width of the pipe at the elbow was 2 times widths of a pop can one day. Most of that shit is suppose to be well above that... LOL
That's universal in any high balling production job. Keep your mouth shut and you won't get called up for discipline or worse. All you can do is keep your own diary and maybe quietly take some photos of your work while the boss is not looking for later legal documentation. Nobody high up loves a worker who is appears smarter then them or a possible whistle blower. Keep your documentation top secret until you have the right legal protections in place. Of course some jobs strictly enforce a no smart phone on the premises worker policy with worries of workers possibly photographing sensitive parts of a job site.
2:47 Did anyone else start audibly yelling at the cgi dude NOT TO DO THAT TO THE VERY FRAGILE PIPE THAT HAS 600 DEGREE petrol products running through it.
Yep! "So we have a pipe with 600 degree gasoil under pressure, that's already leaking. Let's remove the outer casing to find out if there is a big hole that will vent explosively and douse us all with gasoil at 600 degrees! What could possibly go wrong?"
Also I'm pretty sure the video stated these were all Chevron's on-site firefighters, like they apparently staff full time firefighters there. So they should have been a lot more familiar with it than a random local FD that shows up.
7:10 "but MANAGERS decided the line was thick enough to stay in service" And yet, those same manager were not brought up on charges of attempted manslaughter.. which is EXACTLY what they did!
+Kohdok Chevron has a number of media outlets and dispenses its largesse in a city badly in need of resources. When they donate to local nonprofits, they are able to publicize how much they love Richmond. More importantly, however, they buy silence about the health effects of their toxic emissions from the staff of these nonprofits, whose leaders are important community figures.
Janet Johnson Public oversight has nothing to do with Exxon's lack of motivation to protect their own investments with periodic capital improvements. To save a few bucks cost them hundreds of millions of dollars. They have plenty of warnings, reasons and opportunities years ahead to perform maintenance on what would have amounted to changing the wiper blades on your car. No community figure, as you put it, would understand the critical nature of the plant managers' lack of safety mindedness nor could they stand up to pressures of the corporate mindset. That culture does not end at the refinery gates but extends all the way into the public As a tugboat deckhand I assisted the chief engineer in the engine room when he needed an extra set of hands or if I was bored and wanted to watch. There it was reinforced proper maintenance was NOT fixing something when it broke but to prevent later breakdowns. Fixing something that was broke was just that.... fixing something that was broke which should have been looked at before to prevent a breakdown. It begins and ends with the person who had their hands on the controls to say 'shut it down and let's get it right' Shortsighted thinking led to the idling of a refinery while they shift through the charred remains which in any corporate boardroom is not a good thing.... of course injury and risk to human life notwithstanding though with these things that always seems secondarily on their minds
This is what I don't get. I could care less about the shareholders, board of directors and insurance companies underwriting these refineries, but fundamentally these preventable accidents are costing these "important people" a lot of money. Even if it cost them a few million dollars every year per refinery to keep safety standards functional it would easily pay for one of these hundred million dollar disasters.
In this case they should have shut down immediately. However telling upper level management that you are shutting down a large part of a plant that processes over 200,000 barrels (55 gallons in a barrel) a day because of a pipe leak is not something they will want to hear.
You know, 2012 portable thermal cameras were relatively cheap and easy to get. You'd think a refinery would have one. At 600 degrees, no part of that fuel column would be liquid at atmospheric temperature, so the insulation shielding had to be acting as a heat exchanger to condense the dripping fuel. About 10 seconds of looking at the pipe with a thermal camera would have revealed where the leak was without the need to remove any shielding or insulation. Honestly, if the CSB would include cost estimates sent to the refinery's insurance companies and shareholders, you'd probably get a lot more of a response out of the refinery's owners.
Ah, nope. We use IR for inspections. The insulation jacketing reflects, and you cannot see temperature gradients. Jacketing has to be removed in order to do this.
@@terryofford4977 The insulation blocks infrared from what I remember so thermal cameras would be significantly less effective than many think at finding the leak
Always glad to hear no deaths in disasters of this magnitude. Great videos and work the USCSB does, wish Australia and UK had something similar on YT (at least I do not know of any). 1976...2012... 36 year old pipe, sulfadation corrosion already known, thinning observed, exact same failures occurred in their other locations years earlier...that pipe should of been replaced years ago and there is absolutely NO reason this disaster should of happened. Really upsets me seeing that so many companies seem to take a 'replace ONLY after it fails' approach to maintenance. Also upsetting is that it seems ALMOST every one of these occupational incidents the USCSB has investigated, can be concluded as to being caused by basically laziness and/or greed. Very rarely it seems the incidents are truly an honest accident. Sure as hell would of cost a LOT less to replace the pipe! Falls back to the expression 'You think safety is expensive? Try having an accident'
Note that the accident was probably insured so letting the pipe burst cost the refinery managers less than appropriate repairs. Only profit and managers annual bonuses really count. I guess the bean counters just take the money and run.
I know many people blame profit and greed. A truly profit minded and "greedy" manager would have much rather spent the thousands to replace the pipe that they knew was thin and was old enough to have been fully deprecated by now back when the plant was already shut down over the millions lost to the extended outage, lost product, fines and possible civil suits from people who could not breathe. These managers are not greedy, they are shortsighted or as my grandmother would say "pennywise and pound foolish". These managers gamble with the companies money that they can shortchange maintenance until someone else is in charge. Corporations need to start retroactively taking bonuses from managers who hit "last quarters cost savings goals" and them have a major preventable accident like this the next quarter. As it is they encourage this short sighted behavior with their "stock price über alles, immediate share holder value at all cost" bonus structures.
First and foremost, what they did was not maintenance work, but rather a check if the pipe is about go boom. Everyone seemed to understand that there was a good chance it could do that. The light oil was heated beyond it's ignition temperature, that's why it burst into flames with the first small vapour cloud...you absolutely need to be in full fire gear if you're doing anything with a leaking superheated oil pipe. Even if it doesn't instantly light on fire, it's still plenty hot to give you 3rd degree burns if it sprays on you. The fire gear give you time to run away unharmed or at least survive a major fuck up.
I'm assuming they were attempting to take the leak seriously, the firefighters were in gear that would protect them in the event of a fire. Walking through a wall of fire is not really possible without full turnout gear on.
Should any one of you carry the task of convincing managers to adopt a safety measure, speak money. Tell them how very probable that a disaster would strike if they chose not to, and how much money they would lose. Money seems to be the only language these people speak anyway
Yes that can help, but not always. I know someone who is trying to get their church to replace the toxic PCB containing transformers that power the church. One person thinks it's not a problem, even with the looming threat of a huge cleanup bill when the old transformers begin to leak. -_- ... Some people just don't get it.
RAZ, you hit the nail squarely on the head with that comment. 31 years in the refinery industry as operator, shift supervisor, area supervisor and finally as Incident Investigator, makes me wonder what the hell managers are thinking sometimes. Some listen and act but most don't. Until shit like this happens.
I've worked in a chemical plant before and you called a mechanic when you have a leak not a firefighter. A firefighter is trained to fight fires not fix leaks. In this case the firefighters create a fire and even then they continued with a sledge hammer to drive a finishing nail approach.
As a former journeyman insulator who watched every other trade strip insulation from a line with everything from claw hammers to pin bars, I can honestly say these guys got exactly the disaster they intended to create.
Richmond and surrounding residents know all too well about this refiners terrible history with accidents we all received a 2,000 dollar check when we turned 18 because of an event there when we were children
@@Adrian-wi7bt at 100,000 residents, that's like 200 million. That's a pretty big settlement. Did they spill neurotoxins in the drinking water or something that I need to watch out for?
I lived in El Segundo in the 1970's. It's my home town. My step father was on the fire department then. I am glad to see Chevron has not changed one bit.
Wolfboy101 Wait till you see any of the new videos uploaded in 2018. They put this one to shame! They're full 1080HD and the detail is unbelievable, like a modern video game!
Hopefully somewhere is a giant rulebook at Chevron there is a new rule about "If you encounter a hydrocarbon leak DO NOT poke at the leaking pipe with sharp sticks or pressure wash it with firehoses while the unit is still running. Also disconnect valves are pretty cool and maybe we should look in to adding those so individual pipes can be shut down and repaired without stopping production." The only way they will get a budget to add valves will be if they play up not halting production. Before these video I would have never guessed that grown men need to be told "don't poke a leaking high pressure pipe full of explosive hydro carbons with sharp sticks. Also don't blast high pressure cold water at hot, leaking high pressure pipes full of explosive hydrocarbons". Turns out a group of presumably well trained firemen though "Poke it with sharp sticks" was a fine way to deal with a leaking pipe. Maybe there needs to be a NFPA code and firefighter training about "poking leaking pipe filled with heated high pressure explosive hydrocarbons with sharp sticks and why you should never , ever do it". I will give them bonus points if they include the phrase "Hey dumba$$" in this code.
L TR Aren't they company fire fighters? Meaning that they're most likely trained by Chevron? Probably consisted of showing them how to turn on the house and drive the truck over an afternoon.
@@kimobrien. I know that they're not mechanics, but firefighters ought to know that stuff. Hell, I'm just a volunteer and it's still painfully obvious. At least in my region we're trained pretty damn well, and taught to really think about a presented situation on our feet. I don't know what them being company firefighters entails, but for normal volunteer/career firefighters, this situation should have raised *multiple* red flags, and they never should have proceeded in the way they did. I'm surprised, but thankful that no one died. At least people can learn from it now.
Firefighter Mike from Crockett, I just heard that you were in that fireball and thought everyone else was dead. I remember that day and saw the black cloud. I'm so glad you were OK.
Despite the failure that did happen, I believe that a safety win was that all workers close to the leak were wearing fire retardant gear. Because of this, no lives were lost.
It seemed like no one wanted to take the responsibility of shutting the plant down. They didn't want an angry phone call from the owner saying, "Why have you shut the plant down? Do you realise how much money this is costing me? Get the plant running again or start looking for another job!"
@@HailCostanza which is stupid in itself, many people should be able to make the call, much like a go around decision made by one of the pilot of an airliner can no longer be overridden by the other whatever the seniority anymore, they introduced that after a crash. Decisions on potentially dangerous actions should be left to experts, however decisions on potentially life saving or damage controlling actions should be open to as many people as possible; Yes it might sometimes cost a bit of money, this shouldnt be a concern.
louis Lauzet but the head operator IS the expert. They are the ones with the most experience in their specific process plant. That’s why the head operator is usually the only one with the authority to shut down their plant.
@@HailCostanza I'm sorry if it wasnt clear, but you should read my post again, it boils down to: Many people should be able to perform emergency actions like a shutdown, not just the guy in charge, furthermore there should be no possibility to overide this decision once it is taken even with seniority. It might cost money from time to time due to unwaranted actions but it's still better.
Is this what i have to look forward to as a chemical engineer?, this is absolutely moronic, and reckless....it seems like these accidents are happening more often as these refineries enter their "golden years" of operation....they need to stop being complacent and perform upgrades....you cant save money by letting things get this bad...you end up suffering catastrophic failure, far worse than any repair related "expense" i.e. entire plants destroyed, people killed, etc.
Kim O'Brien Hard to get a return when your investment is literally up in flames. Not to mention the millions they lost in public image and everything else that comes with an accident like this.
Certainly this is not the desired outcome but it is the result of risk assumed when the investment is made. Any business school graduate should be able to tell you that risk itself isn't a problem but what the risk for investors is. Capital will expect a higher rate of return on more risky investments.
I work at a crude oil refinery in an FCC unit. The product similiar to diesel could be LGO (light gas oil) or LLCO (light light circle oil) or HLCO (heavy light circle oil).
A fantastic and informative video as always, and excellent work on the animation. I too look forwards to your take on the West Texas Plant fire/explosion.
That pipe was over 40 years old and no one thought it a good idea it was time to change it out? Up until its failure leveled half the plant, I'd say they got their money's worth from the initial investment. Just a guess... how long would it have taken to replace that run of pipe? Considering shut down and purging of the unit then restart... 48 hours?...which could have been done during one of the many maintenance shutdowns in the years proceeding
Yes your suggestion is a good one, it's similar in the Airline Industry which has strictly mandated shut down periods for an aircraft, (it is however, sad to say,) there are many smaller companies who will go to any length to 'overlook required maintenance procedures, Take Alaska Airlines for instance where the all important Jack Screws which permit Tail fin operations are UNCHECKED and UN MAINTAINED for as long as six years...Quote' because the Jack screw is time consuming when appropriate greasing and maintenance is deemed necessary....I rest my case. Net result, one lost airplane PLUS loss of real live passengers and crew...oh well, think how much we've saved on our maintenance bills!!!!
There is one thing in common with all of these incidents: The same worker is always shown in the videos. Sometimes there are multiples of the same guy. I smell a conspiracy.
Clones, man. Dow Chemical has perfected cloning, and they lease it out to other petrochemical companies for huge sums of money. That's why they have to keep production running instead of fixing safety issues, because they need the dough to pay for the clones.
You can't expect managers fresh from some MBA-mill to heed warnings on a topic they don't understand. This is rampant in our manufacturing system. Managers like projects, like "empowering employees" (double speak) and when we say, "hey, about those side-cut pipes... we really ought to replace them." To which management sez, "That would require spending money. Isn't there a cheaper method, like ignoring it?"
For many past decades, we've been for so many times in this kind of accident as LESSONS LEARNED. We have prevented this with all possible means from happening again. This accident should have been in full controll when it was first noticed. Why it end up again in a disaster???
Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) today reported earnings of $3.7 billion ($1.95 per share - diluted) for fourth quarter 2018, compared with $3.1 billion ($1.64 per share - diluted) in the fourth quarter of 2017, which included $2.02 billion in tax benefits related to U.S. tax reform.Feb 1, 2019
Valuable indeed, Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) today reported earnings of $3.7 billion ($1.95 per share - diluted) for fourth quarter 2018, compared with $3.1 billion ($1.64 per share - diluted) in the fourth quarter of 2017, which included $2.02 billion in tax benefits related to U.S. tax reform.Feb 1, 2019
Paper thin, cheapest alloy possible. Thanks TRILLIONAIRE Oil people. At least only no lives were lost. "Keep it flowing" they said.. Holy Jesus I would hate working in a oil refinery. I'd scream at the top dog to come and see what I'm seeing!!! I would then take video of the danger and walk.
fla playa 1. Nowhere does the video say it was "paper thin, cheapest alloy possible". That's absolute horseshit. If you paid attention whatsoever, you'd know these were pipes from the 1970's and a special form of corrosion unique to high temperature sulfur-containing hydrocarbons slowly thinned the pipe over the following 4 DECADES. 2. There isn't a single TRILLIONAIRE in the world, much less multiple at Chevron. Try to be more accurate next time, your zealousness ends up diminishing the actual message you're trying to convey.
Man, you can see just how thin that pipe was at the point of rupture in the aftermath photos. Probably no thicker than a few layers of aluminum foil found in any kitchen.
Although the concept of isolation valves is sound, every component that's added is another potential failure point. Valves also can allow entrapment of materials where pressures can go outside of safe limits, so pressure relief is needed between isolating valves, and so complexity can increase exponentially, with the potential for failure of each component. It can be as much art as science.
@@greg3930 probably but you looking at a refinery from the 70s. There was a way like the previous guy said. Shut down the whole thing but that will lose production
@@mikecromaticm2896 I work on a similar unit (It was built in 1969). All towers have isolation valves. We had similar problems more than once, but we didn't lose production and people. Thank God.
I love these educative videos. But this tells us how most organizations all over the world ignore preventive maintenance just to meet production targets all at the expense of safety of employees and assets in the plants.
To me, this seems like a good example of the tunnel vision that's easy to fall into as a situation develops. The firefighters job was to diagnose the leak; they didn't take the time to step back and reassess the situation after things changed. They were just going to try one more thing.
This video really demonstrates a shocking level of incompetence at the refinery at a number of levels. Get your act together Chevron and put the safety of neighbors and workers above profits!
every choice was boneheaded. the best choice was taken last. amazed a professional would even consider messing with that pipe with a pike. Safety Last was the sop there.
It seems the common theme in all of these accidents is cost cutting and lack of government regulation and enforcement. Money over lives. Our government is supposed to protect us but they can't do that when they are owned by the very corporations that are the danger. Get big corporate money out of our government or this crap will only get worse.
As the real communist I say the first step is the need for a union and a right to shut down production when safety has become a concern. You can't rely on the capitalist government to protect our rights and the environment.
If I may 1) They had no business messing around with the old insulation while the pipe is still hot, there is good reason for insulation, otherwise there wouldn't any in place. 2) Dousing a component under stress with cold water will only induce further stress in the material, subjecting it to working conditions possibly exceeding normal operation. 3) Why would fire fighters perform emergency engineering work? Is this industry S.O.P.? ( in hind sight..)
Enjoyed listening, I hope you folks do a report on The West Texas Fertilizer Plant explosion too. Fascinating video, be safe & keep up the great work !
I used to work there and have seen Head Operators drunk on duty , Operators drunk on duty and one operator would mix his "grass" with pipe tobacco to camouflage the smell...He had guaranteed drug free freeze dried urine and water just in case he was called in for a drug test ......It was rumored that supervisors would called their reliefs at home if their name came up on the drug schedule so the supervisor could call in "sick" if they thought they would turn up dirty...I've seen Head Operators many times bring in coolers full of beer on ice for the troops... This was recent not ancient history....This place is not safe !.. If the public only knew what went on there !
Ah I remember this day very well. We live 20+ miles away and had to shelter in place because we could smell the fumes. My poor brother in law normally drives by on the freeway on his way home from worm. He had to take an alternate route as did thousands of others. Took him 4 hours to get him. Crazy day.
You really have to wonder; What were these morons thinking? I bet they go home and stick forks into energized toaster. The most incredible part is- they had been warned. they were supposed to be "engineers". They fully understood the effects of corrosion on this mild steel pipe. When they inspected before this incident, they discovered corrosion bad enough to replace some segments of the piping. What did they think was happening to the rest of the pipe they did not inspect or replace? It was made of the same material carrying the same product! If they have allowed their concern for profit override their concern for safe operating practices, they do not need to be in this business.
I worked out there a few times from 74 to 95..I'm a UA 342 retired welder...After you drive by all the plants they have a Rod and Gun club...There's 2 swimming pools a Bowling alley ,shooting range ,boat harbour...It's actually nice out there.
Can you say, "GREED!!!!!" Thank God no one died at that plant or near it. But 15,000 people with lung irritation? Figure closer to maybe 9,000 that had that problem for real and the rest of the 6,000+ people faked it to get in a on a lawsuit that we all know happens every time these failures happen. Once again, can you say, "GREED?"
No it's not common. But this is a compund/mixture of HC and there may be an extremely small fraction in the cut that contains material above the auto-igintiion point (the idea of fractionation is to separate those various components based on their relative boiling points - statifying the column content on a temperature gradient). Braodly speaking, the materials are above their vaporization temperature - vapors are what burn, not liquid, so it just needs a source of ignition = nearby equipment.
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"hmm, this pipe is really old and leaking"
"if the leak gets any bigger, it could erupt in a fireball of death"
"let's poke at it with metal hooks"
And lets fire a cigar. Do you have a ligther ?.
38911bytefree And the Darwin Award goes toooOOOO....💥
"Shouldn't we shut it completely off first??"
"Nah we're good!"
@@j-man6001 Yeah that's silly, I'm sure we will be fine
@@38911bytefree and lets gather under it while attempting to "fix" it as a flammable substance goes through the pipe. Can't go wrong, can it?
*"WE SMASHED IT WITH PICKS AND WE'RE BLASTING IT WITH THE HOSE BUT IT'S STILL LEAKING"*
Is that what they really said?
@@p_filippouz Nah im just saying they did everything they could to turn this leak into a disaster.
@@lubu4u312 ah
Cool
Hahahaha.. Classic
When you're a hammer, everything is a nail lol
Replace the pipe? Shut down? What are you ... nuts???? That stuff costs money.
That's just what I say when someone says they want something cheaper ...
It's crude, but it's the truth.
after accidents they have to pay much more .
Edward Hara "the head operator knew it was serious but didn't need immediate shutdown".(face palm) next second 💣💣💣💣💣💣💣💥💥💥💥💥💥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥💥💥💥💥🔥🔥💥🔥💥🔥💥💥💥💥💥🚒🚒🚒🚒🚒🚑🚑🚑🚑
😂😂clearly the people commenting don't understand sarcasm.
After working in a refinery I learned that starting up and shutting down a unit has all kinds of other complications and dangers. Its not like turning a key off. Temperature and pressure spikes occur, instabilities happen. Refinery processes like steady state stable operations for months on end.
Shutting down a process is not taken lightly by operators as other hazards can happen. Everybody is always on edge during process changes because that's when accidents occur.
In my years there, money was never a concern regarding operation actions. Safety is the main concern. Upper management is aware of the revenue loss of shutting down production but the unit operators never give it a thought. Safety is stressed more than anything else in a refinery. Its still a dangerous place to work.
I feel like I'm watching a animated version of jackass
Poke it! Ahahahhaha!
its not funny like your gay little show
@@rileybobbert6527 he's referring to these starts don't extremely stupid stunts. Like poking a worn pipe with a sharp objects that's carrying warm hydrocarbon liquids.
@@rileybobbert6527 imagine using gay as an insult.
@@dazednconfusedrn So childish and outdated that I'm not even offended. Like, bruh, you can do so much better.
2012-1976 = 36 years.
What kind of mickey mouse operation doesn't change such a critical and highly stressed component in almost 4 decades? When they know of high wear?
This isn't even greed, the bean counters said it should be inspected and tested then replaced but they just didn't do it. I hope this is a wakeup call, this could have killed so many people.
That was not the first time they have accident.
Followed by the three stooges level temporary repair operation. Man if I worked in a factory like that I'd be the guy who's always saying "Nope. Shut it down". How much do you have to get paid to be that stupid with your life? I've never made that much money.
Among the bosses those who shut down production don't get promoted. So they keep coming up with reasons and ways which like in this case are absolutely stupid just so they can say I tried this and it didn't work. In this case boss stupidity went beyond normal and luckily no one was killed.
Answer = Every operation world wide.
@Mr MEMé He was writing it as a math problem, I think. So rather than a birth/death format, which is the typical 1976 - 2012 fashion.
"They knew that the walls of the pipe had thinned, but they absolutely didn't care and nobody would hold them accountable." Fixed that for you.
ButtSolution agreed
profits over prevention...
But I thought safety is paramount? Lol
2:45 poking the pipe so I guess they bat hornets nest too
The managers ignored the csbs recommendation yo replace the pipe glad everyone survived
It’s actually incredible that the workers without respirators on were able to make it out of the massive vapor cloud without suffocating. It’s also incredible the guy in the firetruck managed to run for it and made it out alive. These guys all withdrew from the luck bank that day
I’d never buy a lottery ticket again, waste of money
This is my favorite TH-cam channel.
Only 2 channels I know are better than this
@@Rhythm65536 name them
Yeah
yes
Fr
I'm really happy no one died during this incident. Imagine being that firefighter trapped inside the fire engine. Having to run through a wall of flames. Very brave dude.
Harlee Kindred He had a harsh choice to make. Get out NOW while he could, or sit and do nothing. If he sat and did nothing, the fire would probably have spread until he COULDN'T get out, and then he just gets roasted alive in that truck. If I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die TRYING. It's survival 101: Don't wait for a second chance that may not come. Take your best shot while you still can.
@@xaenon This video still gives chills.
Imagine being the firefighter poking the hot oil pipe with a spear. Very stupid dude.
@@xaenon yea verily!
I kinda wonder why he didn't just drive the truck out of the flames.
This is why I walked away from my $100k job years ago. They didn't shut down because it would mean less production... which means less money. They lose millions per hour when they stop production. Patches are always tried first. I've seen them weld on pipes with hot oil flowing in them. It's normal practice.
This is madness
They care more about money than peoples lives sadly
Wow!
They’ve also caused major issues in the rain forest, I believe Vice put out a video about it recently
capitalism at its finest
"...Replacement was recommended, but this did not occur." Jesus. Over and over again in these videos 'management' is given ample warning, and almost every time they sit on their hands. Why? To maintain production and max out their precious bonuses. All at the risk of life and limb, pushing critical maintenance out just long enough for them to be gone/retire. Then their replacements can always say that 'somebody else' made the decision before they got there. It's a system that rewards zero accountability. Disgusting. At least this time no one was killed. _This time._
Its a familiar story. I resigned for something similar, but it was an HCL pipe. It had degradated to 2mm and I wasn't able to shut it down because the so called Integrity Engineer gave the all clear to carry on.
Greed. Greed is the reason.
@@dvaidr Absolutely, idiots such as described are always the winners,somehow or other, the reluctance to repair BEFORE it goes bang is beyond the capabilities of many in the 'managment areas of business, they are too short sighted to visualize that a stitch in time saves nine. Doh, even my grandma has that philosophy.!
I really love the old, outdated animations. They're really cool.
Also helps to show how far this channel has come
So after everything, when an operator says "Oh, something is leaking? Yeah we really should shut it down.", we should probably just shut it down.
Not just something. A pipe containing a high volume of hydrocarbons way above the ignition temperature, that has a direct line to the entire distillation tower.
No dont shut it down, just poke it with metal sticks. Thats obviously how you fix problems in life.
This whole thing is on a level of stupid rarely seen. Except sadly it is not.
Nah, gotta keep up to quotas on production, can't think about safety or anything!
No fatalities? Holy crap!
This is a terrific youtube channel! The quality has improved a lot. I wish they would re-upload their old videos now that youtube allows better quality videos.
Зачем им это делать?
You should see the new videos if you think these are great
Amazingly detailed story. hopefully it may, just may convert some of the money hoarding managements to think, such a possibility has an excellent 1 in 10,000 chance of preventing similar 'accidents'.
@@terryofford4977 the bigger this channel gets.... the more people out there will see how greedy those refineries are and steer clear of working in them at all costs. It always seemed like a cool job to me but there’s no way in hell i wanna work at a refinery now 😅😅😅😅😅
Throwing water on a thin hot metal is a good way to cause warping causing any leaks to possibly amplify. Best to add that to some of those guys education when thinking about using a high flow rates that cause a lot of cooling on hot steels like that. Metal can even crack from being cooled fast.
Firefighters are trained to fight fires not to be mechanics. Chevron bosses wanted to keep production up and running. They knew the had a leak of hot hydrocarbons and could not stop the leak by closing a valve.
They should have shut down production at that point because the pipe was insulated so they had no way to know how bad or big the leak was removing insulation which could be the one thing holding back a bigger leak was a criminal disregard of safety even if it had been done by mechanics.
@@kimobrien. there was no valve....
@@tttarms1970 Exactly my point. It could very well be a valve could not be installed because if closed then there is no way for the gas oil to leave the distillation tower meaning the whole process leading up to the distillation tower would have to stop. The mechanics fix pipes because that is their job. They probably refused because they properly understood the danger of opening the pipe cover with a leaking pipe inside having a liquid hot enough to self ignite. Which is why the first fire occurred when firefighters were tasked with taking off the cover of the pipe. Not happy with starting one fire they then made the decision to try for a bigger one and then got what they should have expected.
Also anyone with half a brain knows you don't hit a high temperature object ( 640 degrees F) with water unless your willing to destroy it by creating a huge temperature differential.
@@kimobrien. yep why if you put a hot glass lid for a pan into cold water.....you will need a new lid haha.
@@kimobrien.
Your right
Refinery firefighters should have only been there incase of fire.
Well trained and certified mechanics should have been there, properly doing the work.
I have weld inspection friends that do refinery inspections during running operations.
My one friend told me, on a running line, that the width of the pipe at the elbow was 2 times widths of a pop can one day. Most of that shit is suppose to be well above that... LOL
I wonder if it's like my work. Report problems and get ignored or yelled at.
That's universal in any high balling production job. Keep your mouth shut and you won't get called up for discipline or worse. All you can do is keep your own diary and maybe quietly take some photos of your work while the boss is not looking for later legal documentation. Nobody high up loves a worker who is appears smarter then them or a possible whistle blower. Keep your documentation top secret until you have the right legal protections in place. Of course some jobs strictly enforce a no smart phone on the premises worker policy with worries of workers possibly photographing sensitive parts of a job site.
You can probably smuggle in a tiny spy cam.
@@mikeymcmikeface5599 in that case they can fire you for violating company policy. Then nobody will listen to you.
If only workers could unite in some way as protection from being fired when they report a safety hazard.
Andrew John they do in refineries. Every operator there was union.
2:47 Did anyone else start audibly yelling at the cgi dude NOT TO DO THAT TO THE VERY FRAGILE PIPE THAT HAS 600 DEGREE petrol products running through it.
You don't send a fireman to do a mechanics job.
Yep! "So we have a pipe with 600 degree gasoil under pressure, that's already leaking. Let's remove the outer casing to find out if there is a big hole that will vent explosively and douse us all with gasoil at 600 degrees! What could possibly go wrong?"
Yup. Although, having done insulating at CNRL here in Canada, nothing anyone else does phases me anymore.
Also I'm pretty sure the video stated these were all Chevron's on-site firefighters, like they apparently staff full time firefighters there. So they should have been a lot more familiar with it than a random local FD that shows up.
I tried to tell them, I yelled at my video screen, but they would not listen.
7:10 "but MANAGERS decided the line was thick enough to stay in service"
And yet, those same manager were not brought up on charges of attempted manslaughter.. which is EXACTLY what they did!
This is a pretty good animation of the event.
If I remember right, Chevron instead tried to get a bunch of public officials elected who would leave them alone. It didn't work.
+Kohdok Chevron has a number of media outlets and dispenses
its largesse in a city badly in need of resources. When they donate to local
nonprofits, they are able to publicize how much they love Richmond. More importantly,
however, they buy silence about the health effects of their toxic emissions
from the staff of these nonprofits, whose leaders are important community
figures.
That is what I believe FMRX does in my community.
Janet Johnson
Public oversight has nothing to do with Exxon's lack of motivation to protect their own investments with periodic capital improvements. To save a few bucks cost them hundreds of millions of dollars.
They have plenty of warnings, reasons and opportunities years ahead to perform maintenance on what would have amounted to changing the wiper blades on your car.
No community figure, as you put it, would understand the critical nature of the plant managers' lack of safety mindedness nor could they stand up to pressures of the corporate mindset. That culture does not end at the refinery gates but extends all the way into the public
As a tugboat deckhand I assisted the chief engineer in the engine room when he needed an extra set of hands or if I was bored and wanted to watch. There it was reinforced proper maintenance was NOT fixing something when it broke but to prevent later breakdowns.
Fixing something that was broke was just that.... fixing something that was broke which should have been looked at before to prevent a breakdown.
It begins and ends with the person who had their hands on the controls to say 'shut it down and let's get it right'
Shortsighted thinking led to the idling of a refinery while they shift through the charred remains which in any corporate boardroom is not a good thing.... of course injury and risk to human life notwithstanding though with these things that always seems secondarily on their minds
This is what I don't get. I could care less about the shareholders, board of directors and insurance companies underwriting these refineries, but fundamentally these preventable accidents are costing these "important people" a lot of money. Even if it cost them a few million dollars every year per refinery to keep safety standards functional it would easily pay for one of these hundred million dollar disasters.
In this case they should have shut down immediately. However telling upper level management that you are shutting down a large part of a plant that processes over 200,000 barrels (55 gallons in a barrel) a day because of a pipe leak is not something they will want to hear.
You know, 2012 portable thermal cameras were relatively cheap and easy to get. You'd think a refinery would have one. At 600 degrees, no part of that fuel column would be liquid at atmospheric temperature, so the insulation shielding had to be acting as a heat exchanger to condense the dripping fuel. About 10 seconds of looking at the pipe with a thermal camera would have revealed where the leak was without the need to remove any shielding or insulation.
Honestly, if the CSB would include cost estimates sent to the refinery's insurance companies and shareholders, you'd probably get a lot more of a response out of the refinery's owners.
They wanted to install a bandage, they were prevented by isolation.
Ah, nope. We use IR for inspections. The insulation jacketing reflects, and you cannot see temperature gradients. Jacketing has to be removed in order to do this.
We always X-ray before removing insulation
Yeah your are correct but Oh Deary me, Thermal cameras cost money and would the return on expenditure on such luxuries match the return in safety?
@@terryofford4977 The insulation blocks infrared from what I remember so thermal cameras would be significantly less effective than many think at finding the leak
2:54 high pressure and heat pipe with combustible liquid flowing through it? *stabs it with a metal spear*
Erh, 'wot the 'ell am I lookin fer'?
Always glad to hear no deaths in disasters of this magnitude. Great videos and work the USCSB does, wish Australia and UK had something similar on YT (at least I do not know of any).
1976...2012... 36 year old pipe, sulfadation corrosion already known, thinning observed, exact same failures occurred in their other locations years earlier...that pipe should of been replaced years ago and there is absolutely NO reason this disaster should of happened.
Really upsets me seeing that so many companies seem to take a 'replace ONLY after it fails' approach to maintenance. Also upsetting is that it seems ALMOST every one of these occupational incidents the USCSB has investigated, can be concluded as to being caused by basically laziness and/or greed. Very rarely it seems the incidents are truly an honest accident.
Sure as hell would of cost a LOT less to replace the pipe! Falls back to the expression 'You think safety is expensive? Try having an accident'
The lower level mangers don't want to explain why a plant gets shut down over a dripping pipe to the top brass.
Note that the accident was probably insured so letting the pipe burst cost the refinery managers less than appropriate repairs. Only profit and managers annual bonuses really count. I guess the bean counters just take the money and run.
I know many people blame profit and greed.
A truly profit minded and "greedy" manager would have much rather spent the thousands to replace the pipe that they knew was thin and was old enough to have been fully deprecated by now back when the plant was already shut down over the millions lost to the extended outage, lost product, fines and possible civil suits from people who could not breathe.
These managers are not greedy, they are shortsighted or as my grandmother would say "pennywise and pound foolish".
These managers gamble with the companies money that they can shortchange maintenance until someone else is in charge.
Corporations need to start retroactively taking bonuses from managers who hit "last quarters cost savings goals" and them have a major preventable accident like this the next quarter.
As it is they encourage this short sighted behavior with their "stock price über alles, immediate share holder value at all cost" bonus structures.
I know of a British channel I think it’s British, it’s called WorkSafeBC.
@@JohnDoe-qy6oq That’s British Columbia in Canada lol
Glad the workers got out safely.
Why are fire fighters doing maintenance work? Hey this line is leaking oil, let me jab at it with my poker.
First and foremost, what they did was not maintenance work, but rather a check if the pipe is about go boom. Everyone seemed to understand that there was a good chance it could do that.
The light oil was heated beyond it's ignition temperature, that's why it burst into flames with the first small vapour cloud...you absolutely need to be in full fire gear if you're doing anything with a leaking superheated oil pipe. Even if it doesn't instantly light on fire, it's still plenty hot to give you 3rd degree burns if it sprays on you. The fire gear give you time to run away unharmed or at least survive a major fuck up.
I'm assuming they were attempting to take the leak seriously, the firefighters were in gear that would protect them in the event of a fire. Walking through a wall of fire is not really possible without full turnout gear on.
You’re ignorant as fuck.
Because it exploded. Did you not watch the video?
Typically refinery firefighters are actually operators and maintenance personnel that have given proper training and proper equipment
“The poking with the metal poles moved the pipe”
“Lets use high pressure water to remove the insulation!”
Should any one of you carry the task of convincing managers to adopt a safety measure, speak money. Tell them how very probable that a disaster would strike if they chose not to, and how much money they would lose. Money seems to be the only language these people speak anyway
Yes that can help, but not always. I know someone who is trying to get their church to replace the toxic PCB containing transformers that power the church. One person thinks it's not a problem, even with the looming threat of a huge cleanup bill when the old transformers begin to leak.
-_-
... Some people just don't get it.
Its a general attitude that if it works why replace it and if it does go bad government or someone else will pay.
RAZ, you hit the nail squarely on the head with that comment. 31 years in the refinery industry as operator, shift supervisor, area supervisor and finally as Incident Investigator, makes me wonder what the hell managers are thinking sometimes. Some listen and act but most don't. Until shit like this happens.
I've worked in a chemical plant before and you called a mechanic when you have a leak not a firefighter. A firefighter is trained to fight fires not fix leaks. In this case the firefighters create a fire and even then they continued with a sledge hammer to drive a finishing nail approach.
What did the mechanic do in that situation?
As a former journeyman insulator who watched every other trade strip insulation from a line with everything from claw hammers to pin bars, I can honestly say these guys got exactly the disaster they intended to create.
2 years later, another fire erupts in this same refinery
+Kevin Broderick say brother do you know dates tell us more bout it please
O_O
Richmond and surrounding residents know all too well about this refiners terrible history with accidents we all received a 2,000 dollar check when we turned 18 because of an event there when we were children
Muh!!!! The shareholders though!!!
@@Adrian-wi7bt at 100,000 residents, that's like 200 million. That's a pretty big settlement. Did they spill neurotoxins in the drinking water or something that I need to watch out for?
THE PIPE WAS INSTALLED IN 1976?????
Too expensive to replace such a small pipe. It meant no bonuses for executives
Risk management 101 these mid level managers probably are Engineers, they get pressure from up top to maintain production .
James Horton lol are you serious. Please don’t be serious
and they were gonna get 50 years out of it too!
I lived in El Segundo in the 1970's. It's my home town. My step father was on the fire department then. I am glad to see Chevron has not changed one bit.
"Get the insulation off with pokie polls!"
"Wait! Bad idea"
"Ok let's spray it with high pressure water"
oh no! Why is it leaking? XD
....and these were "firefighters" that were doing this.
So much work and great animation! The detail especially on the facility is just astonishing
Wolfboy101 Wait till you see any of the new videos uploaded in 2018. They put this one to shame! They're full 1080HD and the detail is unbelievable, like a modern video game!
Never heard the term "thick enough" used when calculating remaining life of pipe wall thickness. Must be something new.
Take away: The "poke it with a stick" method of problem solving seldom works.
But it might! And that'd be cheaper than doing it properly!
poking it with a stick is a standard way to remove insulation
Same can be said for "spray it with a hose"
Bigger hammer is best.
Hopefully somewhere is a giant rulebook at Chevron there is a new rule about "If you encounter a hydrocarbon leak DO NOT poke at the leaking pipe with sharp sticks or pressure wash it with firehoses while the unit is still running. Also disconnect valves are pretty cool and maybe we should look in to adding those so individual pipes can be shut down and repaired without stopping production." The only way they will get a budget to add valves will be if they play up not halting production.
Before these video I would have never guessed that grown men need to be told "don't poke a leaking high pressure pipe full of explosive hydro carbons with sharp sticks. Also don't blast high pressure cold water at hot, leaking high pressure pipes full of explosive hydrocarbons". Turns out a group of presumably well trained firemen though "Poke it with sharp sticks" was a fine way to deal with a leaking pipe.
Maybe there needs to be a NFPA code and firefighter training about "poking leaking pipe filled with heated high pressure explosive hydrocarbons with sharp sticks and why you should never , ever do it".
I will give them bonus points if they include the phrase "Hey dumba$$" in this code.
Firefighters didn't consider the effect of cold water on a weakened 600 degree metal pipe? Argh.
L TR Aren't they company fire fighters? Meaning that they're most likely trained by Chevron? Probably consisted of showing them how to turn on the house and drive the truck over an afternoon.
They're firefighters not mechanics. They had no business being on that scaffle to begin with and using firefighting tools.
@@kimobrien. I know that they're not mechanics, but firefighters ought to know that stuff. Hell, I'm just a volunteer and it's still painfully obvious. At least in my region we're trained pretty damn well, and taught to really think about a presented situation on our feet. I don't know what them being company firefighters entails, but for normal volunteer/career firefighters, this situation should have raised *multiple* red flags, and they never should have proceeded in the way they did. I'm surprised, but thankful that no one died. At least people can learn from it now.
I was thinking the same. At least they could have applied steam.
Who let commie in
*Is it strange that I am binge watching these?*
This channel is like National geographic's seconds from disaster without thhe bullshit
Firefighter Mike from Crockett, I just heard that you were in that fireball and thought everyone else was dead. I remember that day and saw the black cloud. I'm so glad you were OK.
Mike was called The Gentle Giant. The ladies call him The Genitile Giant.
Despite the failure that did happen, I believe that a safety win was that all workers close to the leak were wearing fire retardant gear. Because of this, no lives were lost.
Thank you for the great animation! It really helps to understand what happened and learn the lessons.
It seemed like no one wanted to take the responsibility of shutting the plant down. They didn't want an angry phone call from the owner saying, "Why have you shut the plant down? Do you realise how much money this is costing me? Get the plant running again or start looking for another job!"
When Piper Alpha blew up they kept pumping feed from other rigs to it for hours because no one wanted to be the one to stop production.
That’s not how it works. The head operator, and only the head operator makes the final call to shut the plant down.
@@HailCostanza which is stupid in itself, many people should be able to make the call, much like a go around decision made by one of the pilot of an airliner can no longer be overridden by the other whatever the seniority anymore, they introduced that after a crash. Decisions on potentially dangerous actions should be left to experts, however decisions on potentially life saving or damage controlling actions should be open to as many people as possible; Yes it might sometimes cost a bit of money, this shouldnt be a concern.
louis Lauzet but the head operator IS the expert. They are the ones with the most experience in their specific process plant. That’s why the head operator is usually the only one with the authority to shut down their plant.
@@HailCostanza I'm sorry if it wasnt clear, but you should read my post again, it boils down to: Many people should be able to perform emergency actions like a shutdown, not just the guy in charge, furthermore there should be no possibility to overide this decision once it is taken even with seniority. It might cost money from time to time due to unwaranted actions but it's still better.
Is this what i have to look forward to as a chemical engineer?, this is absolutely moronic, and reckless....it seems like these accidents are happening more often as these refineries enter their "golden years" of operation....they need to stop being complacent and perform upgrades....you cant save money by letting things get this bad...you end up suffering catastrophic failure, far worse than any repair related "expense" i.e. entire plants destroyed, people killed, etc.
It's called maximizing return on investment.
Kim O'Brien Hard to get a return when your investment is literally up in flames. Not to mention the millions they lost in public image and everything else that comes with an accident like this.
Certainly this is not the desired outcome but it is the result of risk assumed when the investment is made. Any business school graduate should be able to tell you that risk itself isn't a problem but what the risk for investors is. Capital will expect a higher rate of return on more risky investments.
yup enjoy your new career. watch your back
America is increasingly looking like a third world country.
Man, imagine having to run through that fire, thank God that guy got out ok
I work at a crude oil refinery in an FCC unit. The product similiar to diesel could be LGO (light gas oil) or LLCO (light light circle oil) or HLCO (heavy light circle oil).
A fantastic and informative video as always, and excellent work on the animation. I too look forwards to your take on the West Texas Plant fire/explosion.
That pipe was over 40 years old and no one thought it a good idea it was time to change it out?
Up until its failure leveled half the plant, I'd say they got their money's worth from the initial investment.
Just a guess... how long would it have taken to replace that run of pipe? Considering shut down and purging of the unit then restart... 48 hours?...which could have been done during one of the many maintenance shutdowns in the years proceeding
especially with dragging out the blueprints and getting the replacement fabbed beforehand.
Yes your suggestion is a good one, it's similar in the Airline Industry which has strictly mandated shut down periods for an aircraft, (it is however, sad to say,) there are many smaller companies who will go to any length to 'overlook required maintenance procedures, Take Alaska Airlines for instance where the all important Jack Screws which permit Tail fin operations are UNCHECKED and UN MAINTAINED for as long as six years...Quote' because the Jack screw is time consuming when appropriate greasing and maintenance is deemed necessary....I rest my case. Net result, one lost airplane PLUS loss of real live passengers and crew...oh well, think how much we've saved on our maintenance bills!!!!
This is why we have duct tape
No this is why we don't use duct tape.
You have a bright future at Chevron.
Lamondrius YungSteezyWitDemFotees Jackson that would cause A LOT OF DAMAGE
Lamondrius YungSteezyWitDemFotees Jackson yu
TO SHOW YOU THE POWER OF FLEX TAPE, I SAWED THIS PIPE IN HALF.
This is my favourite channel .
Since i first watch this channel a few days ago I literally watched all of your videos 🔥 content lol
There is one thing in common with all of these incidents: The same worker is always shown in the videos. Sometimes there are multiples of the same guy. I smell a conspiracy.
Clones, man. Dow Chemical has perfected cloning, and they lease it out to other petrochemical companies for huge sums of money. That's why they have to keep production running instead of fixing safety issues, because they need the dough to pay for the clones.
It’s clearly Sam Hyde. He can’t keep getting away with it!
You can't expect managers fresh from some MBA-mill to heed warnings on a topic they don't understand. This is rampant in our manufacturing system. Managers like projects, like "empowering employees" (double speak) and when we say, "hey, about those side-cut pipes... we really ought to replace them." To which management sez, "That would require spending money. Isn't there a cheaper method, like ignoring it?"
Many thanks for your efforts!
Wow, animation has come a long way. Nice video guys!
For many past decades, we've been for so many times in this kind of accident as LESSONS LEARNED. We have prevented this with all possible means from happening again. This accident should have been in full controll when it was first noticed. Why it end up again in a disaster???
Money and greed mean getting the last ounce of production out of their investments.
Tombstone Engineering at its finest.
@@digitalrailroader Why not? Their greed overrides concern for lives and when something happens they get away with it.
When companies have profits in the billions it's ridiculous that safety and maintainence would be ignored. I'm sure that was great for business.
Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) today reported earnings of $3.7 billion ($1.95 per share - diluted) for fourth quarter 2018, compared with $3.1 billion ($1.64 per share - diluted) in the fourth quarter of 2017, which included $2.02 billion in tax benefits related to U.S. tax reform.Feb 1, 2019
Outstanding quality video.
“We have a chemical leak that requires an experienced technician to fix, let’s send the firefighters to play with the pipe”
SAFETY>MONEY(Shut down/Change Pipe/Full inspection)
ZY Yin,
Safety is also Money Earned/Saved when you measure all the benefits that come with Safety!
In law, safety and money is a balance.
“As far as reasonably practicable”.
@EpiDemic117 Because you are supposed to do it right.
very valuable info thanks
Valuable indeed, Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) today reported earnings of $3.7 billion ($1.95 per share - diluted) for fourth quarter 2018, compared with $3.1 billion ($1.64 per share - diluted) in the fourth quarter of 2017, which included $2.02 billion in tax benefits related to U.S. tax reform.Feb 1, 2019
Your animations are getting better!
I could watch these videos for hours.
Paper thin, cheapest alloy possible. Thanks TRILLIONAIRE Oil people. At least only no lives were lost. "Keep it flowing" they said.. Holy Jesus I would hate working in a oil refinery. I'd scream at the top dog to come and see what I'm seeing!!! I would then take video of the danger and walk.
fla playa 1. Nowhere does the video say it was "paper thin, cheapest alloy possible". That's absolute horseshit. If you paid attention whatsoever, you'd know these were pipes from the 1970's and a special form of corrosion unique to high temperature sulfur-containing hydrocarbons slowly thinned the pipe over the following 4 DECADES.
2. There isn't a single TRILLIONAIRE in the world, much less multiple at Chevron.
Try to be more accurate next time, your zealousness ends up diminishing the actual message you're trying to convey.
That operator doing his check though 😂
These animations were ahead of it's time
i love these hope you keep doing them i watching this in 2019
That shit went up at 5 o'clock I just left there and got to Richmond park way and seen the mushroom cloud
Man, you can see just how thin that pipe was at the point of rupture in the aftermath photos. Probably no thicker than a few layers of aluminum foil found in any kitchen.
These videos have no right to be so entertaining
The phrase "But it was too late" is basically this channel's unofficial motto
Yeh put a dam isolation valve installed as well
Although the concept of isolation valves is sound, every component that's added is another potential failure point. Valves also can allow entrapment of materials where pressures can go outside of safe limits, so pressure relief is needed between isolating valves, and so complexity can increase exponentially, with the potential for failure of each component. It can be as much art as science.
I don't believe that near the tower there was no valve and it was impossible to shut off the pipe.
@@greg3930 probably but you looking at a refinery from the 70s. There was a way like the previous guy said. Shut down the whole thing but that will lose production
@@mikecromaticm2896 I work on a similar unit (It was built in 1969). All towers have isolation valves. We had similar problems more than once, but we didn't lose production and people. Thank God.
I love these educative videos. But this tells us how most organizations all over the world ignore preventive maintenance just to meet production targets all at the expense of safety of employees and assets in the plants.
These CSB videos are very well done
Love this video, a lot of lessons learn!!!!
To me, this seems like a good example of the tunnel vision that's easy to fall into as a situation develops. The firefighters job was to diagnose the leak; they didn't take the time to step back and reassess the situation after things changed. They were just going to try one more thing.
Simple way to fix this send those responsible to prison for 20 years next time they will think about safety instead of money
It would be others in their place.
This video really demonstrates a shocking level of incompetence at the refinery at a number of levels. Get your act together Chevron and put the safety of neighbors and workers above profits!
After watching this video I immediately checked for corrosion on my C-1100 crude oil distillation unit. Thanks USCSB!
every choice was boneheaded. the best choice was taken last. amazed a professional would even consider messing with that pipe with a pike. Safety Last was the sop there.
It seems the common theme in all of these accidents is cost cutting and lack of government regulation and enforcement. Money over lives. Our government is supposed to protect us but they can't do that when they are owned by the very corporations that are the danger. Get big corporate money out of our government or this crap will only get worse.
you hit the nail on the head.
D Madej, Making companies take all necessary safety measures = communism now?
D Madej, you sound like an idiot
As the real communist I say the first step is the need for a union and a right to shut down production when safety has become a concern. You can't rely on the capitalist government to protect our rights and the environment.
Kim O'Brien,
You sure cannot count on the communists or most unions to protect your rights!
I’m glad managers get to make engineering decisions!
great narrator.
If I may
1) They had no business messing around with the old insulation while the pipe is still hot, there is good reason for insulation, otherwise there wouldn't any in place.
2) Dousing a component under stress with cold water will only induce further stress in the material, subjecting it to working conditions possibly exceeding normal operation.
3) Why would fire fighters perform emergency engineering work? Is this industry S.O.P.?
( in hind sight..)
Gross PSM negligence as well. Lots of issues are always in play with these incidents. Shame they didnt just shut down. Jeez...
Enjoyed listening, I hope you folks do a report on The West Texas Fertilizer Plant explosion too.
Fascinating video, be safe & keep up the great work !
Thanks a lot
Fachenglisch ist cool
I used to work there and have seen Head Operators drunk on duty , Operators drunk on duty and one operator would mix his "grass" with pipe tobacco to camouflage the smell...He had guaranteed drug free freeze dried urine and water just in case he was called in for a drug test ......It was rumored that supervisors would called their reliefs at home if their name came up on the drug schedule so the supervisor could call in "sick" if they thought they would turn up dirty...I've seen Head Operators many times bring in coolers full of beer on ice for the troops... This was recent not ancient history....This place is not safe !.. If the public only knew what went on there !
I call bu!!sh!te!!! You haven't seen any of that in over 10 years. That's how long I've been there as a contractor and employee.
Drunk operator does not increase pipe corrosion.
I lowkey wanna work at this place now, heh..
Ah I remember this day very well. We live 20+ miles away and had to shelter in place because we could smell the fumes. My poor brother in law normally drives by on the freeway on his way home from worm. He had to take an alternate route as did thousands of others. Took him 4 hours to get him. Crazy day.
These videos should be required viewing monthly in these industries to remind people to stop putting profits over lives and do the right thing.
Sadly this lead to the bankruptcy of The 3 Stooges refining company Inc
You really have to wonder; What were these morons thinking? I bet they go home and stick forks into energized toaster. The most incredible part is- they had been warned. they were supposed to be "engineers". They fully understood the effects of corrosion on this mild steel pipe. When they inspected before this incident, they discovered corrosion bad enough to replace some segments of the piping. What did they think was happening to the rest of the pipe they did not inspect or replace? It was made of the same material carrying the same product! If they have allowed their concern for profit override their concern for safe operating practices, they do not need to be in this business.
Do you want to kick the floor half of the company?
Surprisingly, in another part of the world the same problems. But, thank God, I'm not sticking forks into the toasters)
I worked out there a few times from 74 to 95..I'm a UA 342 retired welder...After you drive by all the plants they have a Rod and Gun club...There's 2 swimming pools a Bowling alley ,shooting range ,boat harbour...It's actually nice out there.
These videos are perfect summations of how modern American industry is. This isn't just in industries related to chemicals.
Can you say, "GREED!!!!!" Thank God no one died at that plant or near it. But 15,000 people with lung irritation? Figure closer to maybe 9,000 that had that problem for real and the rest of the 6,000+ people faked it to get in a on a lawsuit that we all know happens every time these failures happen. Once again, can you say, "GREED?"
+Stead Fast GREED.
No it's not common. But this is a compund/mixture of HC and there may be an extremely small fraction in the cut that contains material above the auto-igintiion point (the idea of fractionation is to separate those various components based on their relative boiling points - statifying the column content on a temperature gradient). Braodly speaking, the materials are above their vaporization temperature - vapors are what burn, not liquid, so it just needs a source of ignition = nearby equipment.
Failure to maintain equipment can lead to pretty bad things. It's great everyone made it out alive.
i remember this one, and a few at the shell refinery in martinez