INCIDENT

Focusing on the Wrong Safety Metrics

Looking at the 2005 Texas City refinery fire with the benefit of nearly 10 years of reflection and much discussion of what was going on at the facility, it is difficult to imagine how anybody working there could have had any sense of personal security.

Those individuals who spend most of their waking hours surrounded by flammable and explosive products in enormous quantities must become desensitized to the ever-present danger or they would not be able to walk through the gate to begin a shift.

Hopefully, rational individuals find a way to let their knowledge of the danger inform their actions and motivate them to work safely.  BP had created a safety culture that stressed behavioral issues but did not dedicate the same resources to process safety

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