Chemical Safety Board Approves New Recommendations To Avoid Another West-Type Incident
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WEST, Texas (CBSDFW) - New standards to save lives. That's the hope as the U.S. Chemical Safety Board approved new recommendations after the deadly explosion at West Fertilizer plant in 2013.
Investigators presented the findings Thursday night, and they were approved unanimously. The hope is that there will never be another West.
It was one of the most destructive explosions ever investigated by the Chemical Safety Board, triggered by a massive ammonium nitrate explosion.
Fifteen people died and more than 260 were injured.
The board says they still don't know exactly how the fire started.
According to the report, ammonium nitrate storage falls under a patchwork of safety standards - with many gaps. The recommendations include improving oversight, training and land use planning.
Phil Calvin's son Perry was a firefighter who died in the explosion. He says he takes issue with some of the report.
"It's hard, because a lot of the stuff that they're coming up with is just, it's so much B.S. They did a lot of work on this, and I applaud them for that," Calvin says. "I think that this incident was something that just a set of circumstances fell into place at exactly the right time."
The board has made recommendations to federal agencies before, but they were not enacted. The report says, if they had been, this tragedy might never have happened.
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