Safety Of Refinery `Cokers' A Concern -- 1984 Explosion Killed 17 Workers At Illinois Plant Near Chicago

As investigators seek the cause of the Anacortes refinery explosion that killed six workers, union officials are expressing concern about oil-refinery "cokers," which have been involved in fatal explosions elsewhere in the country.

"We're trying to make sure this isn't part of a trend," said Tom Lind, international representative of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Local 1-591.

Lind said other refinery tragedies - such as a 1984 explosion that killed 17 people in Illinois - have illustrated the hazards of coke plants.

As heat, pressure and chemicals are used to refine petroleum, lighter fuels, which go into products such as gasoline, are separated from heavier material.

In the final step, the heaviest substances settle in a tall tower, forming coke, a solid similar to coal.

The coke is then pierced with a drill and broken up and blasted out with a high-pressure spray. It is used as a fuel in aluminum plants.

"All of the units in the refinery can be extremely dangerous," Lind said.

But he said the "coker" - or delayed coker unit - is the only section routinely opened to the outside so that product can be removed.

"Each time they open it, there is a possibility something can go wrong," Lind said.

Coke plants are also considered particularly vulnerable as they are started up or shut down.

The fire at Anacortes, plant officials said, came as the refinery was being restarted after a power outage caused by high winds.

In addition to the company's own investigators, state Department of Labor and Industries agents are investigating the explosion, and a team from the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, an independent federal agency like the National Transporation Safety Board, was due to arrive today.

Coker fires and explosions generally result from the high heat and pressure involved in refining petroleum.

The Illinois tragedy at a Union Oil plant near Chicago was blamed on faulty welds that split open under pressure.

The subsequent explosions were felt 35 miles away, sent a 35-ton tower flying over nearby houses and blasted debris into an airplane flying 1,500 feet above the plant.

In 1993, three people were killed when a coker unit burst into flames at an Exxon refinery in Baton Rouge, La.

Lind said he had no indication that the explosion and fire at the Equilon Puget Sound Refining Co. had a cause similar to those accidents, only that it occurred in the same part of the refinery.

"There's always an opportunity for something to go wrong, and that's why we work so hard on safety management," Lind said.

"We know there's always going to be a hazard when you're working with that type of equipment, and we want to get it as close to zero as possible."

Louisiana-based Western Plant Services has contracted for the coker work since 1995.

One of its four employees killed in the explosion worked there before then, one started in 1995 and two began in 1996.

The company has an "excellent" safety record, said Brent McMullin, West Coast safety director, with procedures audited and overseen by Equilon.

"They have tremendous familiarity with the systems and also with us and our people and their capabilities," McMullin said this morning.

Company officials would not speculate on the cause of the blast. They said the coker at the Equilon plant is routinely inspected.

Equilon President and CEO Jim Morgan said other company refineries have experienced coker fires.

But he said he was not aware of any deaths in those incidents.

"The safety record here was good," Morgan said. "Loss of life in our industry is a very rare event."

Information from Seattle Times staff reporters Jim Brunner and Eric Sorensen is included in this report.