Acidente na Planta da Esso Longford, na Austrália faz 20 anos.
No aniversário dessa tragédia é importante lembrar, denunciar o que aconteceu. Buscar informações sobre os desdobramentos do caso. Será que gerou aprendizagem implicando em melhorias em políticas e práticas de prevenção na Austrália e em outros países do mundo?
No Brasil diferentes tipos de tragédias ocntinuam acontecendo, muitas delas ligadas a problemas já identificados na gestão de grandes obras no país. Mas poucos são os avanços e melhorias na prevenção. Agora mesmo, em pleno debate eleitoral pouco ou nada se viu sobre o desastre provocado pela Samarco, em Mariana ou sobre outras tragédias cá da terra brasilis.
Longford: 20 year anniversary
Yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of the explosion and fire that occurred at the Esso Longford gas plant. Tragically two workers were killed - Peter Wilson and John Lowery. Eight workers were injured and the disaster left Victoria without gas supplies for 10 days. There were nine massive explosions, and the fire burned for 52 hours before it could be extinguished.
This event and the subsequent Royal Commission led to the then Victorian WorkCover Authority establishing the Major Hazards Program who would ultimately oversee the implementation of the Victorian Major Hazard Facilities (MHF) Regulations - the first such regulations in the country. Esso blamed a worker for the disaster, but the Royal Commission cleared him of any wrongdoing and put the put the blame squarely on the company. Esso was prosecuted, found guilty of breaching their duties under the OHS Act and fined $2million - the largest fine in Australia at the time for such an incident. And yet as recently as three days ago, Esso issued an email noting that the incident was caused by 'operator error'! This company pays no tax, expects workers to take a pay cut and give up huge number of basic conditions (UGL), is still unable to express any kind of regret and blame its workforce. Jim Ward, the worker wrongly blamed by Esso, said the day was stamped forever in his memory, "no Australian should forget the role Esso and its parent company ExxonMobil played in the disaster."
Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten was the Victorian Secretary of the Australian Workers Union at the time. He laid a wreath in honour of the workers killed during a visit to Longford last week. In an op ed in yesterday's Herald Sun, Mr Shorten said of his visit: "On my way down (to Longford), I was asked why I came back. The answer is simple. I never forgot the men and their families. They taught me a lot about resilience, about courage and bravery. I've spent my life standing up for workers and it is experiences like Longford that are why a government I lead will stand up for workers as well. It's why we will never stop fighting for people's pay and conditions. Because every Australian has the right to go to work and get a fair day's pay for a fair day's work. And because of the millions of families waiting for the return of their loved ones at the end of their shift."
Read more: WorkiSafe's Major Hazard Matters, in which Principal Process Safety Analyst Mike Connell reflects on that day in September 1998.Also: ABC Online Longford gas plant workers remembered 20 years on from deadly explosion
Este caso já foi relatado em livro do Andrew Hopkins (Hopkins, A. (2000). Lessons from Longford: The Esso Gas Plant Explosion ( Lições de Longford: A Explosão das Instalações de Gás Esso). CCH Australia Ltd)
Vejam na Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esso_Longford_gas_explosion
Aartigo do Hopkins sobre o caso no research gate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248773783_Lessons_from_Esso%27%27%27%27s_Gas_Plant_explosion_at_Longford
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