September 2015

INCIDENT Bayer Crop Science: Running People Past Their Breaking Point One element that figured prominently in the 2008 explosion at the Bayer Crop Science facility in Institute, West Virginia, was a lack of operator training for the new DCS that had just been installed at the methomyl production unit. There were equipment problems to be […]

During the startup, malfunctioning equipment surfaced. But that sort of thing happens on every startup, right? In spite of the fact that the new DCS implementation was still incomplete, restart of the methomyl proceeded anyway, but there were many more equipment problems lurking within the unit. The residue treater vessel had been replaced during the […]