In this episode, Trish and Traci discuss the catastrophic failure at Queensland's Callide Power Station C4 on May 25, 2021, which caused power outages for 470,000 people. During a routine switching operation to replace DC battery systems, a voltage drop was misinterpreted as an AC fault, triggering a cascading failure. Both AC and DC systems failed, leaving the turbine without lubrication while it continued spinning backwards at 3,000 RPM.

The incident demonstrates that process safety principles apply beyond traditional chemical plants to any high-hazard environment. Key lessons include proper hazard identification, functioning safety controls, and maintaining culture, leadership, accountability and governance in safety management.

This In Case You Missed It episode brings the written word to life. Today, Trish Kerin, the director of Lead Like Kerin, and Stay Safe columnist for Chemical Processing, will read her column “Wield Questions to Learn and Teach”

“Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought him back.” – A proverb made modern by Eugene O’Neill.

Have you ever asked a question at work and were surprised by the answer? Over the course of my career, this has happened many times. Sometimes, the answer was genuinely new to me. Other times, I was surprised that someone thought the answer they provided was legitimate. In both cases, I learned something.

Written By: Trish Kerin Read By: Trish Kerin Read Article HERE

Remembering the human toll of Texas City and Deepwater Horizon and applying those lessons learned can prevent similar tragedies.

In this episode, Trish and Traci discuss two major BP incidents: the 2005 Texas City Refinery explosion that killed 15 workers when an overfilled tower created a geyser of hot raffinate that ignited, and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion that killed 11 workers and caused the largest U.S. marine oil spill when cement failed to properly seal a well. Key factors included faulty equipment, misleading indicators, inappropriate safety messaging and failure to learn from near-misses. These tragedies led to industry-wide improvements, including standardized process safety metrics, occupied building risk assessments, and better hazard management.