New CSB Video Illustrates Fatal Explosion at Tesoro Refinery

CSB released a new safety video today detailing a 2010 fatal explosion and fire at the Tesoro Refinery in Anacortes, WA. The five-minute animation breaks down the process of "high temperature hydrogen attack," which over the years damaged and weakened a nearly forty-year-old carbon steel heat exchanger, leading to a catastrophic rupture in April 2010. The video follows the release of a CSB investigation that concluded that the incident at Tesoro could have been prevented had the company replaced the weakened heat exchangers with inherently safer alloys.

According to CSB Chair Rafael Moure-Eraso, “The accident at Tesoro could have been prevented had the company applied inherent safety principles and used HTHA resistant construction materials to prevent the heat exchanger cracking. This accident is very similar to the one that occurred at the Chevron refinery in Richmond, California in August 2012, where corrosion of piping went undetected for decades until it ruptured, endangering the lives of 19 workers caught in a vapor cloud and sending 15,000 community members to the hospital. Companies must do a better job of preventing refinery accidents, which occur all too frequently.”

The report, released this week, offers wide spread recommendations to the EPA and the Governor and State Legislature of the State of Washington to more rigorously protect workers and communities from these types of potentially catastrophic chemical releases.

For more information and to view the video, visit the CSB website.