Safety Blog®

Robin Turney says the lessons learned from the disaster are still as relevant now as they were in 1974.

FIFTY years ago, at 16:35 on Saturday 1 June 1974, a massive explosion destroyed the Nypro chemical plant at Flixborough, UK. The incident took the lives of 28 operators and injured 36 others. In addition, 53 members of the public were injured and almost 2,000 houses, shops, and factories in the surrounding area were damaged. Had it occurred on a weekday, the toll of deaths and injuries would have been much greater.

The explosion shattered the confidence of the chemical industry. It led to a step change in the way in which hazardous plants were designed, operated, and regulated. How did the accident happen, what were the root causes, what changes were introduced and, most importantly, how relevant is the incident 50 years on? This and a series of future articles and webinars will attempt to answer these questions over the coming months.

The basic details of the plant and the events leading up to the disaster will already be known to many and have been reported in a number of places^1,2 including an article in the Loss Prevention Bulletin in 2023 which won the SIESO Medal.³ The events are summarised below: