fascinatinghorror

The Stockline Plastics Disaster

Added 2022-10-18 10:15:01 +0000 UTC

There were a few interesting errata for this story. Here's a little bit about each of them.

Student risk assessment

In the video I mention that risk assessments were carried out... but missed the hazard of the buried pipes. One interesting detail that some sources mention is that at least one of these assessments was carried out by a student who had never done one before.

While that might (understandably) ring some alarm bells, the inquiry report notes that he actually took the job seriously, and adopted a systematic and thorough approach.

He missed the buried pipes... but so did the people supervising him and signing off on his work. So while it was odd that someone so young and inexperienced be responsible for something so important, he certainly wasn't to blame for what happened.

Conditions at ICL Plastics

The ICL Inquiry report mainly covers the circumstances leading up to the explosion, but I found another independent report that looks at general working conditions at the factory before the disaster.

Safe to say, they weren't good. Here's one quote from a worker featured in the report:

"...you were given a mask [but this was after] about 10 years. But I might as well have been given a Halloween mask because I didn’t know what I was using and I didn’t know if the mask was any good for it. I think it did make a difference because I felt before I had the mask and I was using the chemicals, I used to go out sometimes feeling sickly, feeling light-headed, not feeling too well, and when I wore the mask I didn’t have these symptoms. You know, not as bad, as there were some days I did, but not as bad..."

Going by the report, a lax attitude to safety regulations and equipment could have been an ongoing thing at the company for quite some time!