⋆✧Catherine✧⋆ @whitequark@mastodon.social
this is one of the most violently unhinged CSB reports i've ever read https://www.csb.gov/file.aspx?DocumentId=6120
while investigating an explosion at a facility, CSB staff tried to prevent another explosion of the same kind in the same facility, and being unable to convince the workers to not cause it, ended up hiding behind a shipping container
When asked by a representative from a state agency why SPSI thought this operation would be safe – given that a similar approach to draining the MP odorizer had resulted in the May 24, 2017, explosion – the SPSI manager asserted, 'If our science is right, this will be fine.'
Unable to directly engage SPSI about the safety issues regarding its plan and lacking confidence that MRR or SPSI understood either the cause of the May 24, 2017 incident or the full range of possible reactive chemistry involved, CSB investigators took shelter behind a shipping container (conex box) located behind a building more than 150 feet away from the SPSI operation.
Based on surveillance video, the MP odorizer exploded less than five minutes after the draining operation had begun (Figure 15 and Figure 16). A portion of the MP chamber struck and fatally injured the field supervisor. Figure 15 shows still frames of the explosion from a security video.
Following the June 20, 2017, incident, the CSB terminated all planned and future activities at the MRR Philippi site to protect the safety of CSB investigators.
