In a recent year, an oil refinery in Texas City, Texas, on the Houston Ship Channel exploded. The explosion killed 14 people and sent a plume of smoke hundreds of feet into the air. The blast started as a fire in the section of the plant that increased the octane of the gasoline that was produced at the refinery. The Houston Ship Channel is the main waterway that allows commerce to flow from the Gulf of Mexico into Houston.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality expressed concern about the release of nitrogen oxides, benzene, and other known carcinogens as a result of the blast. Neighbors of the plant complained that the plant had been emitting carcinogens for years and that the regulators had ignored their complaints about emissions and unsafe working conditions. (CT16.6)
Answer the following questions.
a. Outline the costs that the company now faces as a result of the accident.
b. How could the company have reduced the costs associated with the accident?
Clearly label your answers a. and b.
A) Company faces various costs, as a result of accident. First of all company needs to pay compensation for the killed and injured workers. Company will also be required to pay for damages caused to people due to release of gas in neighborhood. Company may also be penalized, if allegations of ignoring regulations related to emissions and unsafe conditions are found true as alleged by neighbors.
B) Company could have reduced the costs my taking proper safety measures for workers, which could have avoided fatalities. Further, undertaking proper measures for emissions could have prevented the release of gas, and compensation to neighbors could have been avoided, if emission did not happen. If proper measures were in place, accident could have been avoided in first place, it would have avoided penalties by regulatory authorities.
In a recent year, an oil refinery in Texas City, Texas, on the Houston Ship Channel...
In March 2005, a BP oil refinery in Texas City, TX on the Houston Ship Channel exploded, killing 14, and sending a plume of smoke hundreds of feet into the air. The blast had started as a fire in the section of the plant that worked on increasing the octane of the gasoline that was produced at the refinery. The Houston Ship Channel is the main waterway to allow commerce to flow from the Gulf of Mexico into Houston. The...