A Brief History of: The Phillips Petroleum Explosion 1989 (Short Documentary)

Learn while you're at home with Plainly Difficult!
The Phillips disaster was a devastating series of fire's on October 23, 1989, starting at the Phillips Petroleum Company's Houston Chemical Complex near the Houston Ship Channel in Pasadena, Texas. The initial blast registered 3.5 on the Richter scale, killing 23 employees and injured 314.
The horrific disaster is a fascinating lesson on why fail safe systems are needed.
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Sources:
www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/p...
ncsp.tamu.edu/reports/phillip...
web.archive.org/web/200711302...
www.hydrocarbonprocessing.com...
By Julian Nyča - Self-photographed, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
By Slawojar - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
By Shane.torgerson - Aerial photo taken from my planePreviously published: Facebook and Flickr, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Wan me to cover more Explosions? Let me know in the comments below!

[@SangheiliSpecOp]

Yes. Ones with criticality events in there too lol

[@user-lk6mo5fm1l]

Do you really need to ask us that? Of course we do !!

[@Andy47357]

industrial explosions and industrial fires please

[@chrisnorman1183]

Always now and forevermore* but TBH all your content is really really good so I'm happy with what ever you are producing :)

[@pullt]

West Fertilizer Company Explosion in Texas

[@marc-andreservant201]

It's a pretty bad day at work when your chemical plant registers on the Richter scale.

[@martinj.groenewegen1791]

Yes bad day indeed

[@llYossarian]

(this is meant as criticism of the term "Richter scale" in this video/news media and not your or general usage which is consequently a common and understandable mistake) Magnitude 3.0-3.9 on "Richter scale" = "Often felt by people, but very rarely causes damage. Shaking of indoor objects can be noticeable" - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richter_magnitude_scale (...and from the same wiki) "Because of various shortcomings of the [Richter]  scale, most seismological authorities now use other scales, such as the moment magnitude scale (Mw ), to report earthquake magnitudes, but much of the news media still refers to these as "Richter" magnitudes." and "The Richter and MMS scales measure the energy released by an earthquake; another scale, the Mercalli intensity scale, classifies earthquakes by their effects, from detectable by instruments but not noticeable, to catastrophic. The energy and effects are not necessarily strongly correlated; a shallow earthquake in a populated area with soil of certain types can be far more intense in effects than a much more energetic deep earthquake in an isolated area." ---- "The initial explosion threw debris as far away as six miles and registered between 3 and 4 on the Richter scale on Rice University seismographs" - www.lsu.edu/mpri/files/sache.pdf ...in other words, the comparison from the Rice seismograph to "Richter scale" was seemingly done poorly and would basically still have been meaningless even if it hadn't been.

[@Monothefox]

The train collision on the norwegian Roros line was timed using the national seismograph grid.

[@fredtaylor9792]

@@llYossarian They often don't explain how it's an exponential measurement so people don't understand the scale

[@nunyabidness674]

Only slightly less nasty than having it compared to a nuclear detonation (Pepcon)

[@bigfutus]

Ah the infamous "It will be finished after lunch" type of accident

[@sittinonthegodamcornerdoindope]

That sandwich ain’t gonna eat itself

[@blocksmithforge7841]

Kind of... but it's more of a "locking stuff out all of the way is hard so we're not gonna do it" accident

[@off_Planet]

Lunch makes your brain smooth for an hour or two, that's why I rarely eat at work and if I do it's a small snack. Far more difficult to lose a limb in an accident if your blood is in your brain and not your belly.

[@Pownderosa]

@@off_Planet damn straight, well said. Skipping lunch have made my second half of day go faster and smoother with more energy.

[@The_Mimewar]

Ya see, my wife made Baklava, and i promised her id eat it by 1

[@SouthernCanadianSoup]

I’ve worked at this particular facility, and even as of 2020, you can still see the scars of the explosion in several different areas of the site. There’s a small memorial where the new structure is. Every year they have a 10 minute moment of silence for the workers killed.

[@brigates6932]

I worked at a chemical plant that had had an explosion in the reactor that had taken out all connecting pipes and vessels back in the mid-1900s. There's a cement wall with piping from the incident and you can still see material build-up from the event.

[@carlossolis7218]

Yeah true! You can still tell something happened… by this memorial there is a smaller one for a smaller explosion 10 years later where my wife lost an uncle and cousin.

[@mariemccann5895]

@@carlossolis7218 I'm sorry to hear they hadn't learnt from the first one. Take care.

[@GoonyMclinux]

My father built the concrete pillboxes on that plant and lots of the other cement there in the 80's.

[@fredtaylor9792]

I saw this in person! Wow. I was 7 or 8 and staying with my aunt in Galena Park(right in the middle of those chemical plants. Always smelled funny). We felt/heard a thump and were told to evacuate. Going over the ship channel bridge we could see that fire several miles away. So crazy to see this on your channel. I had almost forgot about it and actually witnessed it.

[@Realsurge]

I was around the same age, around 8, in Kruse Elementary... I talk about this day a lot to my friends up here where I live in Maine. I remember it as the day I flew, as the explosion caused our desk with us in it to levitate off of the ground. Shit that day was nuts.

[@Chainsaw-ASMR]

Shoutout to Fred and Armand for their first hand accounts. Glad you both survived!

[@fredtaylor9792]

@@Chainsaw-ASMR Thanks. Me too. The actual explosion wasn't a danger to us in hindsight but the chemicals released was the main concern. That area of Houston/Pasadena/Galena Park is potentially very, very dangerous. My father and grandfather worked at the Shell refinery in that area. Very dangerous stuff. My dad was a foreman on a unit that made DDT and he would have to wade through the stuff above his ankles to shut off the valve when it overflowed.

[@Chainsaw-ASMR]

@@fredtaylor9792 As a soil remediation worker, I visited many paper and chemical plants and I count myself lucky to have never lived in the shadow of one. The stuff that is legally permissible to release is staggering.

[@fredtaylor9792]

@@Chainsaw-ASMR Lol yes, there was a papermill less than a mile from my aunt's house. It always smelled of chemicals. The comedian Ron White lived nearby and actually has a bit about "living in the shadow" of that exact papermill. On a sidenote, ZZ Top graduated from Galena park(and played my dads prom as the "moving sidewalks") so maybe those chemicals aren't so bad. Lol

[@bartfoster1311]

I used to live near an oil refinery that was right in the middle of a small town in Wyoming. Most of the town was within what I considered blast range of the facility. Scarily, two schools and baseball fields were within range of hitting the refinery with a toss of a baseball! I felt a little better living with a ridge between the house and refinery.

[@recurvestickerdragon]

Oh hey, I know which town you're talking about; went to a track meet there

[@chudleyflusher748]

Wow. It’s almost like zoning regulations exist for a reason!! But you do you, Wyoming!

[@supportmalphite8769]

Sinclair?

[@katiekane5247]

@@chudleyflusher748 it's not just Wyoming. Nasty manufacturing happens where those impacted are desperate for jobs & politically unrepresented. Poor whites, immigrants & blacks primarily.

[@JoeyLovesTrains]

Wyoming doesn’t exist

[@johndoyle4723]

Ispent most of my working life as a Chem Eng managing a refinery with highly flammable materials, we had 2 small fires, but never the big one, and no-one was injured, and only minor damage. I was glad to retire without ever being responsible for hurting anyone. Thanks for the video, but it is my worst nightmare.

[@Dingomush]

I started working as a carpenters apprentice in 1990, building scaffolding inside refineries in the Woor River, Illinois area. “Lock out, Tag out” was definitely being pushed heavily at the time. It was a “no warning” type offense, to be caught not locking out equipment or to rely upon someone else’s lock for your safety. “No Warning” offense meant that you went right out the gate, fired on the spot. You would have to wait a full year before being allowed back in the gate no matter if you switched contractors or what. So, yes. In my opinion it did change the industry. Must have done something. I’ve lived long enough to write this! lol……

[@cremebrulee4759]

No warning is the correct response to lockout/tagout violations.

[@3579jh2]

I was staying with my grandma in deer park when this happened. The walls shook and one of the panes of glass cracked. Sad to hear people lost their lives. Many years later I studied proper lock out/ tag out procedures as a fuels tech in the airforce to prevent this sort of mishap.

[@malcolmshannon5996]

How was deer park back then?

[@sullivanrachael]

Really good video. Regarding the cause of the leak: the contractor tasked with shifting the blockage of PET; did he try a lazy ‘shortcut’ and try to use the reactor pressure to blow out the blockage? - just open that valve a little bit; just a little bit, and poof, blow out the block, easy….

[@rrknl5187]

It'd be tempting, wouldn't it.........

[@ernstbusch179]

Makes sence to me

[@ajfurnari2448]

If I were a betting man, that's where my money would be.

[@daszieher]

It makes sense until you factor in combustion 😄

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

That WOULD explain the inadequate lock-out and the air-lines being connected... hmmm... Yup, I'm definitely suspicious. 🤔

[@GrantDolanMusic]

This is really well done. You should do Stringfellow acid pits in California.

[@keeganpenney169]

You had me at acid pits, which I envision were some sort of acid mines xD

[@lairdcummings9092]

Yes, do this.

[@MuscarV2]

It has multiple glaring and obvious errors, more than usual for this channel... How does anyone not notice those?

[@GrantDolanMusic]

@@keeganpenney169 it was a waist dump for rocket fuel and other industries. The pits dams were breached in a bad rain storm and an elementary school nearby had children playing in the sludge. It happened really close to where I live and they are still pumping out the contaminated ground water 40 years later.

[@sittinonthegodamcornerdoindope]

@@MuscarV2 well, what are they?

[@stdorn]

Just had a local disaster about a month ago. The Chemtool fire in Rockton IL burned over a day. The company was 13 miles from me and we had a plume of smoke over our house all day it made it look dark out even though it was a bright sunny day. The following week we found lightweight chunks of carbonized foam like material around the yard. I hope when the details are reasleased I can see you cover it.

[@Chainsaw-ASMR]

It may be too late, but please get rid of all that foamy stuff that fell onto your property. There is zero chance it is good for you.

[@papiderpy]

yeahhh don't eat the foamy stuff friend. it probably doesn't taste good o.O

[@LeafGreenLPs]

I heard about that, some of the equipment used there was used in another small IL town like a month later for another disaster that probably not a lot of people heard about, but is the first large scale lithium battery fire anywhere in the world. It did not go well for a while, but the solution was pretty interesting, I heard they encased the entire place in Portland cement to smother the fire

[@stdorn]

@@LeafGreenLPs Wow thanks for the info. I had not heard about that one. I looked it up and it was in Morris IL not far from where I grew up in Peru. Theese things probably happen more often than you would think but if its not in a big town and you dont live near by you dont hear about it. It is scarry how many companies working with hazardous material are near or in residential areas.

[@raymondleggs5508]

They make Lubricant for farm equipment, Lubrizol, no telling what that foam is.

[@josephmassaro]

I lived in Pasadena in the early 80s. I didn't set my alarm clock, I just woke up to the smell of the refinery. It was pretty foul first thing in the morning.

[@daszieher]

Like the smell of napalm in the morning?

[@josephmassaro]

@@daszieher I've never smelled napalm, but it's got some of the same stuff in it.

[@cipher940]

We call it the Green Air City 🏙️

[@jamieayres8030]

Hence the nickname Stinkadena...

[@josephmassaro]

@@jamieayres8030 Yeah, i kinda remember hearing it called that even back then.

[@nervousordo]

A cousin of mine was working at that refinery in Pasadena when the explosion hit. He was lucky to have escaped without permanent injury. I believe he received a hefty settlement from Phillips 66.

[@johnmarshall4442]

Some of the workers killed were completely vaporized. I remember on the news that the family members had a hard time being compensated for the loss of family members that were lost in the explosion because of no body to prove the death . It was a messy legal matter.

[@ReverendTed]

Another great Brief History! This feels like something that would make a great USCSB video.

[@Ryarios]

A few decades ago, I was doing contract work in a small oil refinery. At the time, they set out to do routine maintenance on, IIRC, a reactor. Over a period of a couple of weeks they brought the reactor out of service and cooled it down for entry by maintenance personnel. On the day they were set to open the reactor, several people including the facility safety director, facility manager and the guy who was going to unbolt the entry hatch, went over the procedure and checked all the instruments in the control room to verify the reactor was safe to enter. The worker went up in a cherry picker and removed the bolts holding the hatch closed and was promptly covered in hot oil. At that point everyone realized that he unbolted the hatch to a reactor NEXT to the one they brought down to be serviced. They were very lucky only one man died and the fire didn’t spread. I guess I was lucky too since I was on-site working on another project a couple of hundred yards away.

[@hazzalandy]

I had something similar to this the other week, confined space entry (I was putting a robot crawler into the tank), tank was meant to have been ventilated and cleaned of product. Bloody pleased I checked before I stuck my head in there...

[@hauntedshadowslegacy2826]

Yiiiiiikes... That's one helluva way to go... I hope they've since improved labelling and communication.

[@mjmcomputers]

I was 5 when this happened and lived about 15 miles away. My grandfather worked at the nearby Lubrizol chemical plant. I wish he was still alive as I’m sure he would have a good story about this.

[@matthewnorman2951]

When neglecting Lock Out Tag Out, no one wins.

[@sandordugalin8951]

The legs were double locked out. They just weren't double blocked out.

[@rsinclair689]

Yep, similar to Bhopal, failed to install a blocking plate before flushing the system (as well as having critical systems out of service) see how that ended.

[@AsbestosMuffins]

if you're gonna cover refinery explosions you'll be at this for a few more years, especially since huston makes one every year

[@jamieayres8030]

That's quite the over exaggeration you posted there

[@OddLeah]

@@AsbestosMuffins There's still time left in 2021 ;)

[@spicywolf6718]

For refinery fires/explosions I hit up the CSB channel. They've got some decent content

[@jasonfuller9440]

Here's a short list of industrial deaths in Texas. 2013 - 11 killed when a fertilizer plant explodes 2005 - BP oil refinery explodes and kills 14 2004 - Superheated water escapes and kills 2 1990 - Five die in Richfield chemical plant explosion 1985 - Two killed in Warren petroleum explosion 1981 - Six killed in Dow chemical plant explosion 1976 & 77 - Grain elevator explosions kill nine and 18 1947 - Two ship carrying fertilizer explode while docked killing 576 and injuring 5000 Look at the recent power grid issues in Texas. Texas' main problem is they "don't need no gov'ment regulation".

[@RCAvhstape]

@@jasonfuller9440 Their problems would be fixed if they'd just put guys like you in charge and tell them what to do, right? Make sure you mock their accents, too, they'll love your leadership for that.

[@Dsdcain]

Your videos are great. So packed with good information presented in a calm rational manner. Not like some channels that try to add atmosphere by speaking all dramatic and over the top. Also I've come to really enjoy the speech bubbles appearing above your little guys on the screen. Great channel. I'm glad I found it. 👍

[@austex995]

I was taking a smoke break when the sirens went off - we watched from about a quarter mile away as the huge gas cloud drifted toward the burn-off flares a few hundred yards away wondering if it was flammable gas or some other toxic gas - until the entire cloud ignited as bright as the sun - then the shock wave hit us, blowing the building behind us off its foundation (we turned to dive inside but the doors blew away in front of us), a huge mushroom cloud rose over us with debris falling from the sky, aluminum shards were still floating down over 30 minutes later - an amazing blast, it still freaks me out to be near a refinery. Those killed were mostly in a bomb-proof bunker/control center that was mostly underground - but the blast came from overhead and it crushed the concrete roof straight down. Most of the injuries were from people running, jumping fences or off of platforms to escape as huge tanks full of flammable liquids continued to explode over the next hour or so - those explosions alone would have been memorable and huge but seemed tiny compared to the main explosion. What a day!

[@kenosabi]

I actually have a serious phobia surrounding industrial stuff of all kinds. Giant pipes give me the creeps and refineries are just miles of pipe and things that will absolutely kill you. I've read the most dangerous time is shut down/start up because so much can go wrong (I don't know how certain that is but it's enough for me to stay the fuck away).

[@M00R3]

Me, lets watch this literally in a Phillips refinery right now. Lmao Edit*** refineries use a lot of flammable materials at temperatures above their flash point and the only thing keeping shit from hitting the fan is the lack of oxygen in the process. Also, all the refineries I go to nowadays, they are all very serious about lockout procedures now.

[@wolf986]

Tell Izzy and Ricky I said hello. :D

[@barrydysert2974]

Very glad to hear that!:-) 🖖

[@peterg.8245]

Used to work at Worley Parsons and did some are classifications for the Bartlesville, OK research facility. After an engineering powwow we decided that a 900°+ hot surface nearby made it unclassified because any gases would auto ignite before conflagration.

[@frankb389]

and yet many still screw it up and kill workers every year.

[@jappperon7012]

@@frankb389 some of the screw ups are cause workers or managers tried to shortcut. some just wear and tear that wasnt caught.

[@roberthurley8366]

You should do a history of the bio-dex chlorine plant fire.... it's literally causing a doubling of chlorine prices across the USA

[@bartfoster1311]

I think you mean BioLab plant in Lake Charles, LA owned by KIK Custom Products. Hurricane Laura ripped the roof off and it burned for 3 days.

[@lairdcummings9092]

Double valve isolation is a key process in a large number of industrial applications. Was formerly a USN Nuc operator, and we routinely used double isolation, to the point where it was natural. At some times, double isolation required freeze seals, where a second valve wasn't present; freeze seals always made me paranoid.

[@EATSLEEPDRIVE2002]

Awesome video as always, plainly. If you’re looking for suggestions for the next disaster : I humbly suggest researching lake Peigneur in Louisiana, 1980. I won’t spoil too much, but: salt mine under the lake, and at the same time drilling for oil through the bottom of the lake. Drill accidentally punctures salt mine, turned the whole thing into a giant bathtub when you pull the plug.

[@sn95_capo32]

You just spoiled it

[@richardcranium3579]

It’s been done.

[@bobmabry1839]

Best explanation I've ever heard of this. I grew up in Deer Park down the road from the plant and my late father retired from another plant to the west. Please do more!

[@Myrea_Rend]

Don't tease us with that opening image of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and then not cover it!

[@PlainlyDifficult]

One day 😉

[@Myrea_Rend]

@@PlainlyDifficult I've seen the building that housed the factory. It still stands today as part of NYU's law school, but there are plaques on it letting you know what happened there. The corbels on the edges of the roof are still blackened with soot.

[@SangheiliSpecOp]

@@Myrea_Rend that's haunting

[@Myrea_Rend]

@@SangheiliSpecOp A lot of old buildings with overhanging corbels have some darkening from smog, but the Asch Building (its name at the time of the fire) is noticeably darker, probably because the source of the smoke was much closer.

[@AsbestosMuffins]

there's just so many stupid decisions that went into that fire, there's a lot to cover, most of them revolving around treating workers much the same way amazon does but without government regulations saying you have to do things like give them stairways and fire doors

[@Cryodrake]

Good job on your videos! Always enjoy watching them.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Glad you like them!

[@ashj_2088]

I like plainly Ds community 👈😎👍

[@Aatell764]

How very educational. First thing in the morning. Fantastic.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Aatell764]

@@PlainlyDifficult Love the channel man!

[@codydickerson3601]

Great video and explanation of what occurred. It shows how lucky my father is to be alive today. He doesnt talk much about the explosion because of the search and recover he did after finding many people he knew

[@JasonFlorida]

Please don't get rid of Larry and Moe! Its always those two! Dudes always on his coworkers foot. Thank you for making these awesome vids!

[@tachy1801]

Don't worry, they have been involved in so many deadly accidents, they are probably immortal gods.

[@JasonFlorida]

@@tachy1801 that's very true! Nothing those two can't live through! Haha

[@audiosurfarchive]

@@JasonFlorida (6^9)⁴²⁰ disasters to go.

[@blazerocker1734]

I was 11 when this happened and being far removed from the area, and a kid, I never knew it occurred. A few years later I caught the 1991 documentary 'Death on the Job', narrated by the talented Joe Mantegna, and I got well informed on the tragedy. It really hit when I heard the families and coworkers talk about their loved ones and friends they lost. It also hit a little closer to home as my father worked in similar facilities in his trade, some of which were just a short drive away and just as dangerous. Dad is retired now, but today I'm the one who occasionally works in those types of plants as I ended up in the same trade as him.

[@timmagee8348]

Wow a plainly difficult and USCSB cross over episode! I’m lovin it!

[@BadPenny3]

The CSB videos are ridiculously well made. Part of me always looks forward to new ones, which is kind of wrong considering people usually get injured or killed during those incidents. But the information they provide is top notch.

[@kmclaughlin888]

Great video, well done research on the topic! I’m pretty sure, though, that the chemical formula you show at 2:38 is polypropylene, not polyethylene. Easy mistake to make…you actually made my day getting to find it!!

[@Shandael]

I was a mailman working a walking route in Channelview, just right across the ship channel from the plant when it blew. Blasted out the windows of the house I was servicing and the pressure hit me so hard in the back my heart actually skipped a couple of beats from the pressure blast. We've known for decades that since those petro plants are interconnected that it would be like a nuclear bomb went off if they were to blow. At that moment in time I actually believed it looking around the neighborhood, hearing the screams and panicked dogs and seeing that big ol' mushroom cloud towering over the rooftops.

[@wii-u-enjoyer]

I am a simple man. I see industrial disaster in notifs, I click.

[@mihan2d]

"Although things are *never* as safe as they should be" must be the greatest sentence I ever heard about man-made disasters.

[@LilAnnThrax]

I get SO hyped when I see these in my sub box. I always forget it's Saturday and this is a great start to the day.

[@hossmcgregor3853]

I lived almost 4 miles away from the plant when this happened, it rattled the apartment windows. And insulation landed not far from us.

[@madflyer1093]

What worries me is how many of these disasters happen in facilities with signs everywhere saying safety is number 1 priority. They must have their list backwards counting up towards profits which is actually most important

[@SangheiliSpecOp]

And it's always sad to see that it takes many people losing their lives and millions of dollars in damage before people actually stop and think about updating their procedures instead of doing things the usual way.

[@grmpEqweer]

Safety third.

[@jollyjohnthepirate3168]

I remember when this happened. Flying debris from the explosion hit cars on a nearby freeway, killing people who weren't in the plant.

[@rsinclair689]

Wow! Tragic.

[@richardgaudin3318]

Not absolutely sure about these facts. All 23 deaths were either employees, contract and direct hire.

[@JellyLocke]

Dude this channel is amazingly informative, incredibly detailed, and an overall wonderful experience. Incredible. Well done.

[@sketchywolff6365]

Thank you for opening my eyes to so many smaller-scale industrial disasters around the world. It really helps put things into perspective and bring more awareness to these kinds of things! 😊👍

[@grizzly8859]

Do one on the Toronto propane plant explosion just a few years ago. That was mint!

[@hotcreamyfart]

"A local solution was devised."

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Always a great thing to hear!

[@Myrea_Rend]

USCSB: "Nononononononono--" (explosion)

[@jwarmstrong]

We had a sheet that had to be signed off at each step - not before or after - but if no one was looking - hehe - this is the way of most low bid contractors -

[@Damien.D]

Never heard of this disaster. "The facility experienced additional fatalities in 1999 and 2000." (wikipedia) Looks like a nice workplace to be!

[@busterbeagle2167]

Bp sucks

[@Damien.D]

@@busterbeagle2167? Nothing to do with bp

[@grmpEqweer]

There's a _reason_ why the oil industry pays workers extremely well.

[@mlwakat]

Kiss your girl and tell your momma you love her every chance you get , because we ain’t baking brownies! I work at a facility maybe 5 miles due North of that very facility (other side of the channel) and we make H2S…..on purpose, and lots of it!!!!!!!

[@Damien.D]

@@mlwakat H2S is pretty healthy. Here in France we have massive beach pollution with rotting algaes that produces clouds of H2S. Seems that peoples visiting these place are healthy for the rest of their lives! (short lives).

[@michaelchastant1450]

I was in the 8th grade standing outside after lunch when this happened. School was 1 to 2 miles away. I was standing on a wooden rail lining a tree/flower bed and almost fell off that rail when the blast happened. Windows were broken many miles further away than where I was. The smoke plume was the thickest, scariest dark grey that blocked a big section of the sky. I worked in that plant several times as a contractor doing some specialized testing a decade later. I never did feel comfortable in there. Interestingly, after Phillip's merged its chemical business with Chevron, the safety record at that plant seemed to get a lot better.

[@alexclement7221]

In 1989, I was an OTR truck driver working for a major carrier. I had unloaded a load of coffee in Houston, and my company dispatched me to this facility for a load of plastic pellets (in large cubic cardboard 'gaylords') headed to a plastic extrusion company on the east coast. The load was quick and easy (I can't even remember if it was a live load or if it was a pre-loaded trailer), and I headed east. Two days later, I made my delivery, and at the dock the receiver was glad to see his load arrive, because "the whole place blew up and nobody could tell us if our load was involved". After looking at a day-old newspaper, I found out that I missed being there by about 8 hours. I'm glad I didn't take my sleep break before picking that load of plastic up!

[@Gkitchens1]

“Things are never as safe as they should be” is exactly why I never leave the house 😂

[@TotallyNotRedneckYall]

Can't find any articles about it, but my local Monsanto plant had a leak of some awful thing back in the day, had to evacuate the whole industrial area. Super scary.

[@railgap]

I really appreciate that you place these accidents into a social context in addition to the detailed (and occasionally quite witty!) descriptions of the facts. Thank you for doing what you do, and thank you for the OCD fundraiser. 💯

[@jerrylukens9314]

I recall this day, I worked in the Chemical plant refinery business as a Piping Designer and was near by and remember counting 5 big fireball explosions, the following year I was at this very Phillips 66 plant. I am impressed with your video, great job. The reactor loops you mention I actually been up there on top of reactor structure. RIP to those who passed.

[@ThatHarlemGuy]

Man, I'd love for you to a documentary on the Fort McMurray fire here in Alberta, Canada. It's really gruesome and you'd like to hear the Canadian history

[@oldmandoinghighkicksonlyin1368]

I will never understand why fines for these ultra-rich, mult-billion dollar companies are so low compared to their profits. Four million dollar fine? That represents less than a day's profits for Phillips, even in 1989.

[@mlwakat]

Maybe globally, but not that single site . They made HDPE and LDPE the big money come out of refineries or specialty chemicals.

[@oldmandoinghighkicksonlyin1368]

@@mlwakat Well Phillips has its name attached to that site therefore it's Phillips' responsibility.

[@vintagethrifter2114]

If you do any research on Phillips, you'll see that it's glory days were long past by then.

[@JasonFlorida]

Excellent! Nothing starts my Saturday right other than a new disaster from Plainly Difficult!

[@joenormanmusic]

I can't imagine the amount of research and time and writing that must go into each and every one of these videos. Amazing work and dedication, man! Keep it up!

[@jmnemo6384]

Fantastic documentary this one hit a little too close to home being that I live in Houston.

[@theSILKROAD210]

2:41 sorry you got that wrong, that's the structure of polypropylene, and not Polyethylene.

[@nodancingpalmtrees7931]

Another excellent disaster video! 🤗👍 Thank you for all of your quality work!

[@VTPSTTU]

Thanks for the video! I did a great deal of causal analysis before my health failed and knocked me out of work. I never studied this accident specifically, but the lessons of double-blocking were strongly incorporated into all procedures. The failure of the lock-out, tag-out procedure is interesting. Even at that time, procedures were good enough that the air lines shouldn't have been reconnected.

[@Wppk765]

"The big ol' dumpster fire that was, the Second World War." Well put, sir...well put. I've heard WWII called many things, but big ol dumpster fire really sums it up, doesnt it!

[@Hamsterjuices]

I was really hoping it was a sick BBQ off but oh well. This will do.

[@thatcampingmann9543]

My great grandpa was cooking BBQ ribs and had a grill and the propane tank under it exploded (this was like in the 40's or 50's) one inch to the right and my dad and me would not be here grandpa made it out okay but my dad as a kid almost died

[@Hamsterjuices]

@@thatcampingmann9543 Damn.

[@grmpEqweer]

... Chemical plant explosion, BBQ...here in the Houston area it can be a little hard to tell. 😳

[@mlwakat]

@@grmpEqweer shit , we BBQ in the plant …. I’ve made several Smokers in these plants up and down the channel

[@Domo6768]

Keep up with the great work. I love watching your videos. There aren't enough of them so I watch them over and over

[@dewman1485]

Always get excited to see a new vid bud. Keep up the great work

[@MySnakeSomnus]

Every time I watch one of these, if it happened within my lifetime, I always do the math to see how old I was and then call my mother and ask “do you remember this happening when I was three?” 😂

[@user-lk6mo5fm1l]

Hell yes !!! I needed this today

[@PlainlyDifficult]

thank you!

[@Kitsudote]

Hey PD thanks for doing a fundraiser for OCD. I personally suffer from it and up to a few months ago my life was a literal unescapable hell. For anyone else with OCD: I know it is very hard and takes very long to deal with it and make it a smaller part of your life, but the results are absolutely worth it! Also remember, it will never go away completely, so don't feel ashamed or disheartened if you have a setback. Keep fighting!

[@re_exist129]

Excellent video and thorough research as always

[@TeteBruleeFR]

Hey Plainly Difficult, I was wondering if you were planing on covering AZF's explosion at Toulouse (France) that ahppened in 2001? It happened somewhat near my home during my childhood, so obviously, I am biased x)

[@screwlose]

at 5:48 your animation shows blinds placed between the reactor and the valves however the animation should show the blinds down stream of the valves. If the reactor was at pressure and they opened the flange to the valves then they would jet out hydrocarbon and cause a fire/explosion. Thanks for the video though, i always wondered what those strange tube assemblies were in petrochemical companies were. and the animation is correct animation later in the video.

[@katethielen3883]

These have been PERFECT to listen to at work!! At first I was like, "he needs to add music" but now I see the value in just listening to him speak

[@davidp.5598]

Thanks PD for all the research you do in bringing these incidents to our attention. I will watch anything you post, but sure, I have no problems with "more explosions." Keep up the excellent work!

[@shadowcaptaincain]

Why does everything blow up in Texas? It seems like anytime you do a video on something blowing up, it's almost always in Texas, lol.

[@Myrea_Rend]

Everything is bigger there, including combustion reactions.

[@ShadeEmberi]

Texas gonna texas, corruption and deregulation

[@TaintedMojo]

Texas is a third world shithole with few regulations

[@Hex-Mas]

Texas people are too arrogant that's why ppl died

[@thefez-cat]

Also there's a lot of sites in Texas. More sites in Texas means more of the failures are going to be in Texas.

[@ianmacfarlane1241]

I'd never heard of this tragedy - it's horrendous how one seemingly small incident can lead to such a catastrophe. Condolences to everyone affected by this awful event.

[@palmspringsmarythomson6354]

It's not widely known now, but I remember even Iiving in California, hearing about the Channelview explosion and seeing it on the news.

[@ianmacfarlane1241]

@@palmspringsmarythomson6354 I'm from the UK, (Scotland) and while I have always been pretty up to speed on current affairs and news stories this one seems to have passed me by - either that or to my shame I've forgotten about it. As was noted in the video, and as I'd said myself in the comments section of the Bhopal video, the 1980s were really bad for industrial accidents, so maybe bad news fatigue had set in. October 1989....I can't remember what would have caused me to forget this. Anyway, thanks to the superb Plainly Difficult I'm unlikely to forget about it again - dunno if that's necessarily a good thing.

[@palmspringsmarythomson6354]

@@ianmacfarlane1241 hey what part of Scotland? My dad’s side of the family is from there though most of them moved to Leeds last I heard

[@ianmacfarlane1241]

@@palmspringsmarythomson6354 I'm from the South Side of Glasgow. Oddly enough I've got relatives in Leeds too.

[@AbelG8781]

My parents lived at Vista Del Sol on Preston in Pasadena. My brother was just born months earlier and the explosion occurred just a mile away. The glass windows in their units were completely exploded.

[@NTovaar]

I live in Pasadena Tx. I was in High School when this happened, I remember the shock wave shaking my School, 4.23 Miles (6.18 Km) away.

[@noxious89123]

7:56 Magnitude OR Richter Scale? They're different systems of measuring the strength of an earthquake.

[@baguskusumaloka]

Pertamax Please make a video about Lapindo Flood. Thats a good topic

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thanks for the suggestion!!

[@baguskusumaloka]

@@PlainlyDifficult in indonesia there is many good topic in the past. Hopefully you will explain that in next episode.

[@lankey6969]

Absolutely love all your content!

[@isaacelliott4307]

I love the dramatic, original-Star-Trek-esque music at the beginning of all of these, really sets the mood.

[@lore2293]

As always you do a very good job in your videos, but, you often tell measures in only 1 system (for example at 3:40 you say the hight in feet and the pressure in psi) and I, as an European can't figure out what they mean. Could you please write down the equivalent (as you do at 3:48 with the temperature)? Thanks

[@nickmaclachlan5178]

You know that you are watching this on a device that would let you figure that out yourself within about thirty seconds of effort on Google right? FYI 3.3ft in a Metre and 14.55psi in a Bar.

[@foxman105]

if you have an international audience, most of which uses metric, why not put dual measurements,especially if he already converts some units but not others. It's a simple qol suggestion.

[@demoniack81]

@@nickmaclachlan5178 Yes, because stopping the video to check every single measurement is SO convenient.

[@LongPeter]

Have you ever considered covering the 2015 Tianjin explosions?

[@paststeve1]

Another Plainly great episode! Thanks John!

[@karyo4560]

Thanks for the subtitles! Helps me understand technical terms way easier than the auto-generated one. Hoping someday you would cover the Sidoarjo Mud Volcano, a "natural disaster" caused by natural gas drilling in Sidoarjo, Indonesia.

[@amberfaux2329]

Don't know if I'm here for historical mishaps or John's weather forecast at the time of recording.

[@jerry2357]

I think that the formula you've given at 2:40 is polypropylene, not polyethylene.

[@namibjDerEchte]

Indeed.

[@edwardneth4363]

Good, concise explanation -- but one scientific correction: polyethylene is a product of addition polymerization, not condensation.

[@brentanllewellyn3898]

Awesome as always. Thank you for sharing.

[@WouldntULikeToKnow.]

As usual, a stupid and tragic event that could have been prevented. Thanks for sharing.

[@johnsmith34]

"3.5 magnitude earthquake on the Richter scale" I was going to complain about calling it the Richter scale, but this disaster is old enough that it actually got measured on the Richter scale.

[@danielleklingenberg9149]

Great documentary! looking forward to see the next disaster!

[@eirenieve]

Thank you for your awesome videos. They're very informative and interesting!

[@misterflibble6601]

23 dead, 314 injured and a slap on the rest a very stern "Phillps, you've been _very_ naughty, don't do it again." Typical pathetic "accountability" for a giant corporation

[@Chainsaw-ASMR]

Why is 1989 Texas in black & white? We had 2 color TVs in Georgia at the time. 😉😆

[@cvp5882]

I'm a pipefitter by trade and I was confused by your first animation where the blind was installed in between the reactor and the primary ball valve. That would have probably blown the plant up as well lol. But, the very act of installing a "blind" (spec, spectacle, line blank, pancake etc.) or flange is ALSO VERY DANGEROUS under a single isolation point. You face the same dangers that ignited this facility. Ideally, you have a double block and bleed. This is 2 valves inline with another valve between them that can relieve pressure to a safe location in case that valve passes (which happens more than you might think). Unfortunately, I have lost coworkers and friends due to improper isolation and lockout. More importantly, zero energy verification. Never trust a valve. Period.

[@joshuahicks4011]

I was in 5th grade at Deer Park Elementary when this happened. Heard it and saw the mushroom cloud, but never really understood what had happened at the time. This is an excellent description of the cause and result.

[@mlwakat]

I was at College Park Elementary, 5th grade ! I’m sure we have mutual friends

[@ashj_2088]

🌮

[@MeaHeaR]

im suprised the yankks called it by it's PROPER namé of Petroleum. Dunno when they decided to call a Liquid "Gas"

[@theghostofthomasjenkins9643]

because it's short for gasoline? gasoline is also different than petroleum as gasoline is a refined version of petroleum.

[@cremebrulee4759]

This brings back memories of the issues I dealt with as the site safety person at my last job, which was at a small chemical plant. I don't miss it at all.

[@barrydysert2974]

Excellent as always. Thank you for educating. 🖖