U.S. Chemical Safety Board Issues Final Report on Arkema Crosby Incident 9

[Latexman]

The original thread on ET is here:

thread815-429507

U.S. Chemical Safety Board's webpage on the Arkema Crosby Incident and it's final report is here:

Arkema Crosby Incident

Good luck,
Latexman

To a ChE, the glass is always full - 1/2 air and 1/2 water.

 

[bimr]

A Harris County jury on Friday (8/3/18) handed a series of indictments to Arkema Inc., an international chemical company whose Houston-area plant exploded in a series of chemical fires after Hurricane Harvey left it under 6 feet of water.

The indictments — which name Arkema North America, CEO Richard Rowe and plant manager Leslie Comardelle — charges that all played a role in “recklessly” releasing chemicals into the air, putting residents and first responders at risk. The charges carry penalties of up to five years in prison for Rowe and Comardelle and a fine of up to $1 million for the corporation.



A recent FM Global study reveals that for every US$1 spent on hurricane protection, loss exposure cost decreased by an average of US$105.

For companies wondering whether they’re getting a good return when they invest in hurricane loss prevention, a new study from FM Global indicates that the answer is most likely yes. The FM Global study reports that for every dollar spent on hurricane protection, loss exposure cost decreased by an average of $105. Furthermore, according to the company, this figure doesn’t even take into account other business ramifications from a hurricane loss such as damage to reputation, market share and shareholder value.

FM Global also notes that companies that invest in well-organized flood emergency response planning (FERP) have nearly 70% less damage and resume operations faster than companies with no or inadequate plans. The company advises a number of preventive measures to minimize the effects of costly wind damage and to prevent flood damage including preparing backup power generators, inspecting and securing rooftops, elevating or sealing off valuable equipment and fastening storage tanks.

[url=https://www.fmglobal.com/insights-and-impacts/2018/roi-hurricane-loss-prevention]FMGlobal Study Link

 

[TehMightyEngineer]

A Harris County jury on Friday (8/3/18) handed a series of indictments to Arkema Inc., an international chemical company whose Houston-area plant exploded in a series of chemical fires after Hurricane Harvey left it under 6 feet of water.

Well, it appears you were correct on the big point bimr. The plant managers violated the law. I still feel that even if they had followed the law to the letter (and I'd be curious to read more into the court proceedings to see what laws were violated, probably one of the generic catch-all laws regarding "recklessness") the results would have been the same given the conditions.

However, violating the law is violating the law. I wouldn't be surprised if Arkema appealed this decision and I also wouldn't be surprised if this gets either reversed or upheld during such an appeal. These sorts of things are often a little too open to interpretation of whether a law was violated or not.

In the end, I feel bad for Arkema management but I also hope that this can only result in positive changes for industry. The biggest things that need to change that I'm not sure is being discussed enough is proper zoning for industrial plants which use reactive and explosive chemicals. My industrial experience is with paper mills and I'm always surprised how close people are allowed to live downwind of the pulp mills; and ClO2 is relatively minor compared to some of the other stuff used regularly in industrial processes.

Ian Riley, PE, SE
Professional Engineer (ME, NH, MA) Structural Engineer (IL)
American Concrete Industries

https://www.facebook.com/AmericanConcrete/

 

[bimr]

I am also interested in what they were indicted for. However, if one can show that you made some good faith efforts, it would go a long way instead of standing there with your hands in your pockets and saying you are astonished.

For a long time, the chemical industry has focused mainly on ROI and that needs to change.

Practicing corporate social responsibility makes companies look good and helps their leaders and employees feel like good corporate citizens, and it offer tangible benefits to a company’s bottom line as demonstrated in the FMGlobal report and this study.

Link to Project ROI

 

[Latexman]

Personally, I think these charges are unjustified, but were done to generate free media attention for the incumbent Harris County DA. Elections are this November. I say charges eventually get dismissed, thrown out, or the very least, they are found not guilty. I know Leslie. You won't find a more safe and responsible person. In the videos showing people working in water up to their chest moving materials to higher ground, he, the Plant Manager, was one of them. As for the company, the Harris County Flood Control District reported that the volume of rain that fell on the area around that plant had a probability of occurring only once every 5,000 to 20,000 years. Who else is held to that standard? Arkema was well prepared for a 100 or 500 year flood, which is the usual standard. Let's see how things play out.

Good luck,
Latexman

To a ChE, the glass is always full - 1/2 air and 1/2 water.

 

[JStephen]

Presumably, that was a grand-jury indictment, not a jury trial, so there won't be any appeal until there has been a trial. Also note that no defense is put on in a grand jury hearing. So yeah, a lot could happen with that.

 

[bimr]

As for the company, the Harris County Flood Control District reported that the volume of rain that fell on the area around that plant had a probability of occurring only once every 5,000 to 20,000 years.

That statement should be considered a CYA by an agency that is responsible for flood prevention. What would you expect them to say, that it is was similar to past events like Hurricane Allison or Rosa?

“There is no doubt that floods in Houston from Hurricane Harvey were an extreme event. However, they are similar to past events along the Gulf of Mexico, and current trends toward more intense hurricanes and rainfall suggest they will continue and may get worse.”

Houston and Hurricane Harvey:
a call to action

"The CSB report also noted an insurance company's 2016 report concluded that the facility was extremely susceptible to flooding hazards thanks to the Adlong Ditch and the facility’s location within both 100-year and 500-year flood plains. However, the 2016 report did not provide recommendations to Arkema on how to address the flood hazards, and the only employee at the Crosby plant who knew of this 2016 report had retired at the beginning of 2017, per the CSB report."

Biz Journal Link

Arkema Attorney's on the other hand, put out Texas size "whoppers":

"“Leslie Comardelle and his ride out crew acted heroically working around the clock throughout the storm, trying to protect the plant and the public,” Comardelle’s attorneys, Paul Nugent and Heather Peterson of Nugent & Peterson in Houston, said in a statement. “There has never been such an indictment in Texas or any other state, the District Attorney’s new theory has no legal precedent and is untested in Texas courts. Leslie Comardelle has committed no crime and will be vindicated in court. The Arkema plant, built in 1960, never had flooding issues in the 57 years preceding Harvey.”"

The Arkema plant actually had a 40 year history of flooding. Long-term employees at the Arkema Crosby facility recalled Tropical Storm Allison in 2001 as the previous high-water benchmark for flooding at the site. In contrast, flood records suggest that rainfall from Hurricane Rosa in 1994, and even rainfall from an unnamed storm in 2015, produced more significant flooding at the Crosby site than did Allison.

In addition, an analysis led by Texas A&M University researchers in 2016 identified Arkema’s facility as one of the biggest risks in a corridor with the country’s greatest concentration of petrochemical plants.

 

[Latexman]

Yes, it was a Grand Jury.

Good luck,
Latexman

To a ChE, the glass is always full - 1/2 air and 1/2 water.

 

[thebard3]

Assertions that officials were 'reckless' isn't quite the same thing as saying any laws were broken, or regulations not followed. That sounds more like a civil, rather than criminal case.

Brad

It's all okay as long as it's okay.

 

[Compositepro]

Grand jury indictments are for criminal matters. Grand juries are made up of ordinary citizens with no particular qualifications. Their purpose is to provide some protection against rogue prosecutors, but they general just do what the prosecutor asks. Being an engineer is usually a defacto disqualification for serving on any jury where technical issues are involved. Both sides are looking for people who can be easily swayed by emotional arguments.

 

[bimr]

Arkema is being charged with recklessness, which is very unusual. This is a criminal act, think reckless driving.

Typically, in a case like this, the State agency in charge of environmental regulations will cite the violating firm for criminal violations of State Law for chemical releases. However, this action might not be taken in Texas because the State is controlled by people that prefer to sue the EPA rather than to enforce environmental laws.

The Environmental Protection Agency and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality also are investigating the incident, though their results have not yet been released.

Sometimes a person's conduct is so reckless that it becomes the basis for a lawsuit or criminal prosecution. If a person acts with such utter disregard for the safety of others -- and knows (or should know) that his actions may cause harm to someone else -- he may be liable for injuries caused by his recklessness.

There are four basic theories of liabilities which, depending on the type of lawsuit, can render a defendant liable for injuries he or she causes.

1. Intent (also called willfulness) means the person acted with the intent to cause harm.
2. Recklessness means the person knew (or should have known) that his or her action were likely to cause harm.
3. Negligence means that the person acted in violation of a duty to someone else, with the breach of that duty causing harm to someone else.
4. Strict liability is reserved for certain specific situations where someone can be held liable for harms they cause no matter what their mental state was.

Recklessness involves conduct that is short of actual intent to cause harm, but greater than simple negligence. Unlike negligence -- which occurs when a person unknowingly takes a risk that they should have been aware of -- recklessness means to knowingly take a risk.

State laws prohibit many reckless behaviors and look upon reckless actors as social dangers because they gamble with other people's safety. A person who has been injured from a civil claim of recklessness of another may recover compensation for any resulting medical expenses, lost wages, rehabilitation, pain, and suffering. In addition, recklessness may also allow recovery from certain people who are typically immune from liability for mere negligence, such as government workers and health care professionals.

Link to recklessness

The Texas Penal Code says someone acts recklessly when: he is aware of but consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the circumstances exist or the result will occur. The risk must be of such a nature and degree that its disregard constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that an ordinary person would exercise under all the circumstances as viewed from the actor's standpoint. It is possible the documents could help establish the standard of care an ordinary person would exercise.

Prosecutors filed documents from Akzo Nobel's Pasadena plant, including a hurricane preparedness plan, emails that detail the days before and after Hurricane Harvey and packing slips that show the company shipped hundreds of thousands of volatile chemicals to New York before the storm moved in for safekeeping.

Similar to Arkema, Akzo houses chemicals that must be refrigerated at all times or will begin to degrade and catch on fire.

The documents show Akzo plant managers ordered the plant be emptied on Thursday, Aug. 24, twelve hours before Harvey made landfall near Rockport, Texas.

As previously mentioned, Arkema's preparedness plan was

Lawsuits Question Arkema Emergency Preparedness Plan

Arkema Officials Were Warned of Flood Risks a Year Before Hurricane Harvey

The Emergency Response Plan had a one paragraph section on flooding:

"Care shall be taken to be sure water is kept out of equipment, shops, control rooms, offices, etc. These areas are to be checked during severe rainstorms
to prevent damage or personal injuries. Non-essential personnel are to be released when appropriate."

 

[JohnRBaker]

Here's an interesting follow-up report documenting some of the environmental impacts on the Houston area as a result of hurricane Harvey and its aftermath, including some comments about the Arkema situation:

Impact of Hurricane Harvey on health, environment still a concern a year later

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/har...on-pounds-air-pollutants-hurricane-harvey-hit

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[bimr]

The report:

Learning from the Man-Made Environmental Disasters that Followed Hurricane Harvey

 

[JohnRBaker]

It's interesting to note that the issue that seemed to get the largest amount of criticism was that most of the large oil refining and chemical processing operations were not properly shutdown prior to the storm hitting, despite there having been at least a two-day warning of what was coming. It sounds like these operators continued to run their facilities at full production right up until the storm hit, in some cases, only shutting down after the power started to fail or when flood waters started to flow into their plants. This led to significantly more pollutants being released than what would have if they had followed proper shut-down procedures.

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[bimr]

Typically, hurricanes will strike the Texas coast once every nine to 16 years, while tropical storms are more common than that. It appears that since the hurricanes hit Texas on average just once per decade, everyone forgets the event.

“There is no doubt that floods in Houston from Hurricane Harvey were an extreme event. However, they are similar to past events along the Gulf of Mexico, and current trends toward more intense hurricanes and rainfall suggest they will continue and may get worse.”

Tropical Storm Allison in 2001 dumped as much as 35 to 40 inches of rain on southeast Texas, killing 41 people and causing $9 billion in damage. Yet, everyone seems to be astounded by Hurricane Harvey.