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The Phillips Petroleum Co. petrochemical plant in Pasadena, Texas, near
the Houston Ship Channel was the scene of a series of explosions and fires
in 1989. On October 23, 1989, a polyethylene reactor erupted killing 23
people and injuring 130. Phillips' environmental director Bill Stolz said
that the explosion was caused when a seal blew out on an ethylene loop
reactor, releasing ethylene-isobutane, a compound used in making plastics.
Russell Mokhiber, The Ten Worst
Corporations of 1989: Phillips Petroleum - Death on the Job (link)
An unflattering account of how the accident was a result of an inadequate
safety policy governing the maintenance of the plant's chemical reactor
systems, the use of subcontractor maintenance crews to work on reactor
systems as a cheaper substitute to the regular Phillips workforce, and an
inherently flawed reactor design. It quotes Robert Wages, vice president
of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union (OCAW), who told Congress
that he also attributed the accident to "pressures to keep production
rates up, a relentless effort to reduce labor costs by reducing the
proportion of Phillips employees on the plant workforce, a flawed alarm
and evacuation program and inadequate enforcement of OSHA regulations
coupled with a lack of appropriate regulations."
Pictures of the 1989
Incident
 
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