Summary
The Flixborough disaster was an explosion at a chemical plant close to the village of Flixborough, North Lincolnshire, England on Saturday, 1 June 1974. It killed 28 people and seriously injured 36 out of a total of 72 people on site at the time. The casualty figures could have been much higher, if the explosion had occurred on a weekday, when the main office area would have been occupied.
Key Learnings / Issues
- Absence / deficient Management of Change (MOC).
- Incident occurred during start-up (critical decisions made under operational stress).
- Lack of operating procedures to assist in making critical decisions.
- Lack of onsite engineering support.
- Plant layout (positioning of occupied buildings) and control room design (to withstand major hazards events).
Quote
“Never here. Never here. And where I’m going to go I don’t know. We don’t have a home.”
A community member when asked about rebuilding her home.