Pasadena, TX — Last Friday morning, October 2, 2015, there was a major chemical explosion at the SunEdison chemical plant in Pasadena that left four workers with injuries. At least one of the workers had facial injuries and was said to be in serious condition.
According to several reports and agencies, the SunEdison explosion happened because silane – a gas comprised of silicon and hydrogen – leaked into the air and caused an explosion.
Apparently, the workers at the plant were trying to clear out a line for a silane compressor and thought they had tightened all the valves that morning to prevent silane from making contact with the air. According to a little research, it looks like when silane comes into contact with air, it can produce sand and water. In this case, it looks like the gas also ignited and burned at least four workers.
The authorities at SunEdison claim that they are back up to full operating speed, though OSHA is still investigation this. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board looked at the accident, but chose not to investigate since the damage and injuries weren’t severe enough, per a news article in the Houston Chronicle.
What caused the silane gas to explode that morning is still under investigated, but it appears that one of the valves the workers tightened was leaky.
Read the letter from SunEdison describing the accident
Map of the Accident
Commentary
This kind of accident is really appalling to read about, but at the same time, I’m glad that nobody was more seriously hurt. I do want to point out, though, that it looks like OSHA has investigated SunEdison in the past before. In fact, it looks like they were even cited in April 2011 for having cracked valves in the silane unit and also for not providing their workers a way to lock the valves and prevent an explosion just like this one.
Maybe this was all a freak accident and the company had done everything right as far as maintaining their equipment at the plant — or maybe they didn’t quite learn their lesson from the last OSHA investigation and this explosion is the result of some longstanding negligence. I don’t know that I can say that for certain, obviously, but something doesn’t quite smell right there. I hope I’m not the only one who thinks that.
From a legal standpoint, employers who have workers’ compensation are actually immune from most legal action, unless it’s determined that they acted with gross negligence. However, a non-subscriber employer (one that doesn’t subscribe to workers’ compensation benefits) is vulnerable to civil claims against them for negligence in the event of an accident. The reports didn’t mention anything about this, so I thought I would add it to me blog, since most people don’t know much about this area of the law.
— Grossman Law Offices
