Date: September 27, 2021
Location: Sulphur, Louisiana (USA)
Address: 900 Highway 108, 70665
Type: Potential Dust Explosion
Fuel: Unknown
Industry: Ethylene Production
Equipment: Unknown
Company: Westlake Chemical
Database Incidents: None Recorded
Loss: Six Injured
Capital Cost: Unknown
Status: Open
Confirmation: Unconfirmed
Company Description:
According to its website, Westlake Chemical is an international manufacturer and supplier of petrochemicals, polymers and fabricated building products. The company was founded in 1986 and employs approximately 9,200 people from locations in North America, Europe and Asia. The location in Sulphur, Louisiana, near Lake Charles, is dedicated to ethylene production.
Incident Description:
On September 27, 2021, KPLC reported an explosion at an ethylene production facility in Sulphur, Louisiana.
The explosion, which happened at around 11:00 p.m., injured six people and sent them to the hospital. Four were released soon afterward. All six were contract employees working on a planned maintenance turnaround. The plant was offline during the planned maintenance.
Emergency Services Technicians from the Louisiana State Police responded to that explosion to see if there was anything that could have been hazardous to the public or if there were any road closures or off-site effects, none of which happened.
According to the police, the explosion was a flash fire and that there was no sustained fire after the incident.
Authorities are investigating the incident to determine what caused the explosion.
OSHA Inspections:
An establishment search turned up one OSHA inspection for this location, but it was not flagged for combustible dust.
Sources:
KPLC
