An explosion at the AB Specialty Silicones plant in Waukegan that killed four workers three years ago was potentially preventable, according to a video released by the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board.
The CSB released a video Thursday re-creating the explosion, after completing its investigation blaming insufficient safety procedures by the Waukegan company and a lack of appropriate regulations by the responsible federal government agencies.
AB makes a variety of products from chemicals, ranging from personal care items to materials used in construction. An unintentional mixing of two “incompatible chemicals” was responsible for the explosion, according to the CSB video.
Though the CSB determined the mixture of those chemicals was the likely cause of the explosion, the agency also said AB Silicones complied with all regulatory requirements of both the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Katherine Lemos, the chairperson and chief executive officer of the CSB, said in the video companies need to be as careful as possible, but also made it clear more stringent regulations are necessary to prevent future tragedies like the AB Silicones explosion.
“Inadequate recognition and evaluation of reactive explosions has been a significant factor in reactive chemical incidents with known causes,” Lemos said. “Yet companies are not required by regulation to implement the most basic safety management systems to control these hazards.”
U.S. Rep Brad Schneider, D-Highland Park, said in an email he intends to make sure both the EPA and OSHA enhance their regulations to assure companies like AB Silicones are required to have safety precautions in place to prevent explosions due to incompatible chemicals.
“The explosion at the Waukegan silicone plant rocked our community and took four lives – a horrible tragedy,” Schneider said in the email. “I will be working with federal regulators to enshrine these protections for workers and the community into law to try to ensure that such an explosion never happens again.”
In its report and video re-creation of the explosion, which occurred three years ago Tuesday, the CSB determined an inadvertent mixture of potassium hydroxide and XL 10 by an AB worker caused a release of flammable hydrogen gas.
“Shortly after the chemicals were mixed, the contents of the tank started to foam and overflow onto the floor,” the video narrator said. “The workers did not realize the materials released were hazardous and there were no hazardous gas detectors to warn them to the dangers.”
CSB said in its report there were no company procedures to separate the two chemicals including using different colored drums, the design of the equipment could have been safer and there were no gas detectors to warn of the invisible, odorless hydrogen gas.
Vincelle Vincent, the CSB’s lead investigator, said in the video installing gas detectors is a crucial safety step and safety procedures must be made as simple as possible to assure incompatible chemicals are not mixed.
“In processes that rely on operators to gather and mix chemicals, it is critical companies reduce the risk of human error by making it easy to do the job right and hard to do the job wrong,” Vincent said.
AB Specialty Silicones said in a statement issued after the video was released the company cooperated with the CSB investigation and has implemented all if the agency’s recommendations. The company reiterated there was a regulatory gap at the time. Other safety precautions were in place then.
“What CSB failed to recognize is that if the AB double initial procedure had been followed on May 3, 2019, the accident would not have happened,” the company said in its statement. “AB implemented this procedure years ago.”
Since the building was leveled by the explosion, AB said in its statement the rebuilt facility not only includes the recommendations of the CSB, but has gone further by rebuilding, “its production and laboratory facilities using state-of-the-art technology.”
Lemos also strongly said OSHA and the EPA need to develop regulations to prevent incomputable chemicals from inadvertently mixing like they did three years ago in Waukegan. It is crucial for workers, the community and the environment.
“It is past time for regulators to fully recognize the hazards presented by reactive chemicals,” Lemos said. “We call on OSHA and EPA to update their regulatory standards (for) better coverage of reactive chemicals. Closing the regulatory gap will prevent tragic incidents and save lives.”
