re: Another day another plant explosion in Texas at KMCO chemical plant

But then when it explodes, you have to shutdown for multiple days and have to deal with federal and state investigators

quote:

---

This is probably not earth shattering news but a lot of these explosions are due to negligence. Got a buddy in X-ray field. He commonly runs into pipes that are worn down and the plant would rather take the chance on blowing up then replace pipe and shut down for the day especially if there are millions of dollars on the line each day. They say it’s cheaper to pay off a family of a loved one and if an incident occurs rather than shutting down for a few days to make necessary repairs.

---

This makes for a good story while sitting around drinking beer but your buddy is exaggerating. I’m sure corners do get cut from time to time but KMCO is primarily a toller and incidents like this one have a real impact on their reputation. Having a fatality on site is not something they will just justify as the cost of doing business. They will be investigated out the arse and will likely end up paying/losing much more than what it would cost to shut down for a week and hang new pipe.

quote:

---

They say it’s cheaper to pay off a family of a loved one and if an incident occurs rather than shutting down for a few days to make necessary repairs.

---

But if it blows then you have to shut down anyways to make necessary repairs and pay off a family

Kinda dumb

quote:

---

They say it’s cheaper to pay off a family of a loved one and if an incident occurs rather than shutting down for a few days to make necessary repairs.

---

Well that's just not true, they have planned outages for this exact reason

I’m glad I finished reading the thread before responding to you. I was gonna type a long post calling your friend an idiot. But now I see others have taken care of that, so I can stop now.

There's way too much petroleum production going on right now. If we cut out the offshore shite, banned fracking, and shut down a few refineries, the main effect on the lifestyle of most people on this board would be a welcome reduction in traffic.

Seriously, figure out what percentage of your budget actually goes toward gasoline and tell me $2.50 / gallon gas is a good thing. It just allows poor people to clog up the highway with vehicles of dubious safety.

Not an environmentalist wackjob here. I don't give a flip about global warming. I just think the current level of petroleum production is ridiculous, dangerous, and unsustainable. Not even cheap vodka is $2.50 / gallon. It's ridiculous.