Thiokol Woodbine Chemical Plant Explosion: Lessons Learned from a Devastating Industrial Accident

Thiokol Woodbine Chemical Plant Explosion 1
Introduction
Thiokol-Woodbine was set up in 1969 to build solid propellant rocket motors for NASA
but later produced other items like fertilizer and flares for the army. The flares were to identify
enemy movements at night (Morgan, 2015). The classification of flares had been moved 3 years
prior from class 7 to class 2 in the order of most dangerous substances but was changed back on
October 29, 1972 (Morgan, 2015). This essay details lessons learnt from the evident mistakes
made in this chemical plant explosion.
How the Accident Happened
Magnesium, the main component, cannot be extinguished by water or carbon dioxide
(Smith, 2013). This together with sodium nitrate made up the illuminant pellet with a chemical
binder, while the ignition pellet constituted pyrotechnic substances (Brain, 2014). The fire began
at the station where an ignition element was being added to the other elements and spread to
other storage rooms in building M-132 and detonation occurred when components and flares
were ignited. The accident happened on 3rd February 1971 at 10:53a.m (Brain, 2014).
Extend of damage caused
Bodies were thrown 121.92 meters while debris was thrown 1300 meters from the
building. Moreover, 3 nearby buildings were destroyed, and a forest fire started which scorched
0.81km2 (Brain, 2014). Windows 18m away shattered and the explosion was heard within an
80km radius. Witnesses reported hearing three explosions, the first one sounding like a gunshot
and last like a bomb exploding. A total of 29 people died and 50 suffered injuries including
severed limbs (Brain, 2014).

Thiokol Woodbine Chemical Plant Explosion 2
Accident cause analysis
The accident is caused by poor design, and ill-informed and untrained workers. All
production materials were stored along the production line. The buildings’ fire preparedness was
poor and smaller fires, a common occupational hazard, were extinguished using water
(Morawetz, 2010).
The following table describes the measures to avoid similar accidents in future
Kletz-type prevention table
Events Immediate steps Avoiding hazard Management systems
Flash fires at the
stations of work
Extinguish the
fire
Ensure that the correct means to
extinguish the fires is available
at the workplace (in this case
sand or a class D dry chemical
fire extinguisher).
-Train workers on equipment
operation and the dangers they
face.
-Purchase the
appropriate
extinguishers.
-redesign the workplace
such that if a fire occurs
it is not in open contact
with like replacing the
open conveyor belt with
closed conveyer belt.
-Facilitate training
programs.
Receive
information about
classification of
dangerous
materials
Immediately read
and implement
any required
changes
according to
information
given.
-Store finished products and
production materials away from
the production line to avoid
rapid propagation of flames in
case of fire.
View all information
immediately it is
received.
Accident occurs Administer first Ensure that workers put on Purchase PPEs and

Thiokol Woodbine Chemical Plant Explosion 3
resulting in
casualties who
were not wearing
protective gear.
aid and necessary
medical attention.
personal protective equipment
like helmets while at work for
safety measures.
ensure they are used.
Delayed response
to an accident due
to late detection
caused by lack of
installed
automatic
detectors of heat.
Extinguish the
fire.
Install heat or smoke detectors Emphasize more on
accident preparedness.
Recommendations
Lessons Learnt
 Educate workers on the dangers they face on duty
From this it is seen that educating workers on the nature of the materials they
handle is key to ensuring safety at the workplace. Every mishap at the workstation
should be taken seriously even if a temporary solution is found for it (Pitta, 2015).
 Always treat correspondence from important with utmost urgency
Important correspondence should be treated with urgency so that no crucial news
is missed like in this instance where nobody at the plant knew that the flares
ranking on the dangerous materials index had changed because the letter stayed
unopened.
 Always have measures in place in readiness for accidents