Rush to Restart Led to Bayer Chemical Plant Blast in West Virginia

Bayer CropScience workers made critical mistakes as they rushed to restart a pesticide manufacturing unit, leading to an explosion that killed two workers in August 2008, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board said in a report.

Bayer deviated from written startup procedures before the explosion blasted apart a tank filled with toxic chemicals, the report said.

One worker died in the blast, which packed the punch of 17 sticks of dynamite and caused damage 7 miles away. A second died weeks later from burns.

Investigators also found Bayer bypassed safety devices and conducted an inadequate safety review, according to the report.

The board planned to meet with the public at West Virginia State University in Institute.

The report blames the blast on a runaway chemical reaction inside a 4,500-gallon tank that broke down waste from making methomyl, which is used in the pesticide Larvin. The process uses the highly toxic chemical methyl isocyanate, but the blast did not damage a tank containing the chemical.

Investigators “determined that the runaway chemical reaction and loss of containment of the flammable and toxic chemicals resulted from deviation from the written startup procedures, including bypassing critical safety devices intended to prevent such a condition,” the report said.

Other contributing factors included an inadequate safety review, poor training on new equipment, malfunctioning or missing equipment, and insufficient technical expertise at the time.

The report recommends Bayer do a better job training its fire brigade and install better pollution monitors.

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources is advised to start a hazardous chemical release prevention program.