The last fires were extinguished at 5.30 pm on 27 September. The full supply of gas to Victoria was re-established after 19 days but other services such as crude oil production from the Bass Strait oil fields remained interrupted for many months. Gas supplies to the state of Victoria were severely affected for two weeks. This site uses small files called cookies to help us customize your experience. The Longford gas explosion was a catastrophic industrial accident which occurred at the Esso natural gas plant at Longford in the Australian state of Victoria's Gippsland region. Search streaming video, audio, and text content for academic, public, and K-12 institutions. Alarm flooding was also seen as contributing to the severity of the failure. 1 0 obj Where the old control room had alarms occurring every few minutes, the new control room and alarm management system is one of the more serene control rooms I have experienced. The gas was supplied to the state of Victoria in Australia. Part 1. In direct response to the explosion all industrial users were interrupted. Senior Principal Consultant, Melbourne | Like the Piper Alpha incident some 10 years earlier, the explosion led to a significant change to the way industry approached the safety of onshore processing facilities, particularly in Australia but also worldwide. The plant is located in the east of Victoria, in the south-east corner of Australia. • What were the causes of the explosion and fire? Alarm rationalisation has become a routine feature in designs. Improved standards of documentation. 8 on Workcover’s MHF Division, Assessing Longford Gas Plant 1 Staffing Arrangements, Impact of the Esso Longford verdicts on Australian engineering practise, Applying the Apollo Root Cause Analysis to the Esso Longford accident 1998, Just culture and the Holmesglen train crash, New Zealand WW2 Fuel Tunnels Backfill Project, Let’s let go of the Swiss cheese thing (it’s not a model), Let go of the Swiss cheese thing (it’s not a model), A new look at the Longford accident, part 2, A New Look at the Longford Accident, part 1. Lessons from Longford: The Esso Gas Plant Explosion Prepared by Andrew Hopkins, July, 2014 . But the problem is that companies come and go; they continually evolve as commercial circumstances change, and their personnel changes. This project applies the Dean Gano’s Apollo Root Cause Analysis (RCA) to the Esso Longford gas plant accident of 1998. Subscribe to our mailing list to receive Advisian updates and more global perspectives. Steve Henzell The explosion led directly to 2 deaths and total interruption of gas supplies to the state of Victoria for 9 days. • A lack of comprehensive operating procedures The Royal Commission highlighted issues with the management of operations: On 25 September 1998, an explosion took place at the plant, killing two workers and injuring eight. A major fire followed. It warrants a separate post to discuss the key findings. We were closely involved with the Longford plants and held one of the retrofit projects contracts with Esso in joint venture with ABB. The goal is to advance our understanding of accident causation in a methodical way for the purpose of future prevention. at one of Esso Australia’s Longford gas plants (GP1) releas-ing hydrocarbon vapour and liquid. Start This article has been rated as Start-Class on the project's quality scale. 4 0 obj 3 0 obj Two men were killed and the state’s gas supply was severed for two weeks, causing chaos in Victorian industry and considerable hardship in homes which were dependent on gas. Esso's decision to blame its staff — including control room operator Jim Ward — back-fired, with Longford royal commissioner and former High Court judge Daryl Dawson finding that the company's failure to equip workers with the "appropriate knowledge" was the ultimate cause of the explosion in September last year.