Monday Accident & Lessons Learned: When is a “Safety Standdown” a “Standdown”

The Associated Press reported that on September 21, the BP Texas City refinery had an accident when steam burned two pipefitters.

As part of their response to the accident, the BP Texas City refinery had a “safety standdown.” However, no units were shut down, and the refinery continued to operate. This makes one wonder, “What is a standdown?” After all, who “stood down” during their standdown?

I’ve never liked the idea of a “standdown”. It seems like a cop-out.  I always thought that advanced root cause analysis and effective corrective actions were a much better approach to improving safety and avoiding repeat accidents.

What do you do after an accident?

Do you have a “standdown”?

What is a standdown at your facility?

How do you approach preventing repeat accidents?

Leave your comments here.