Case Study Analysis of West Fertilizer Company Explosion

Running head: CASE STUDY ANALYSIS OF WEST FERTILIZER COMPANY EXPLOSION
Case Study Analysis of West Fertilizer Company Explosion
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1CASE STUDY ANALYSIS OF WEST FERTILIZER COMPANY EXPLOSION
Table of Content
Introduction................................................................................................................................4
West Fertilizer Company explosion and remediation 300.........................................................4
Recommendations and Guidance...............................................................................................5
Industrial Hygiene concern....................................................................................................6
Safety Concern for recovery teams and workforce................................................................7
Hazardous material and PPE..................................................................................................8
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
References:.................................................................................................................................9

2CASE STUDY ANALYSIS OF WEST FERTILIZER COMPANY EXPLOSION
Introduction
From A small scale workplace hazard to a serious workplace disaster, all need re-
establishing a basic inhabitable work environment for the remediation. The purpose of this
process is to set-up the workplace premises again after removing all the broken, destroyed
and dysfunctional objects, tools and structures. The aim of any remediation after the
workplace hazard is to make the workplace secured in a way that can ensure that these types
of hazardous issues will not occur again. The purpose of this report is to present a
recommendation and guideline for West Fertilizer Company after having a renowned
explosion regarding how they can develop the workplace inhabitable again to ensure that
minimum hazard risk in future (Cantley et al., 2015). Throughout this report, the guideline
will be made on how the workforce of this remediation can successfully re-establish the
premises while taking care of hazardous issues for themselves and for the future occupants as
well.
West Fertilizer Company explosion and remediation 300
West Fertilizer Company had supplied chemicals to farmers since it was founded in
1962. As of 2013 it was owned by Adair Grain, Inc. and employed nine workers at the
facility. On April 17, 2013, an ammonium nitrate explosion occurred at the West Fertilizer
Company storage and distribution facility in West, Texas, eighteen miles (29 km) north of
Waco, while emergency services personnel were responding to a fire at the facility (Csb.gov.,
2016). The facility caught fire on Wednesday, April 17, 2013, and roughly 20 minutes after
the fire was first reported to emergency dispatchers the site exploded. At 7:50:38 p.m. CDT
(00:50 UTC, April 18), as fire-fighters were attempting to douse the flames, it exploded with
the force of 7.5-10 tons of TNT. The explosion created a 93 foot wide crater where the site of
the fertilizer plant had previously been, and resulted in numerous deaths and injuries (NBC