Texas City

You know I have been trying to digest what happened earlier this week at the Texas City Refinery. I have spent the better part of my life working in refining and to say it leaves me feeling empty is a huge understatement.

I have read the various yahoo groups, where blame is tossed around by the most useless of Monday morning quarterbacks. It would seem the fault ranges from the diversity and inclusion programs to extremist groups. I think that what happened is a tragedy on a grander scale then I have ever seen or been a part of. Years ago I attended the funeral of a contractor that was killed at our site. It has never left me. I know what I felt being there, and can only assume that others there with me, shared those same feelings.

My heart goes out to the families of the 15 employees who died. There is no line in the sand that divides rank and file when it comes to this type of human tragedy.

I feel for the managers and the hourly, the contractor and the client. No one suffers less or more when it comes to this.

The time for assigning blame is time wasted. There will be an honest look at what occurred and in the end it will not be anything other then an accident. A tragic one certainly; but an accident never the less. Perhaps a procedure was skipped or a sequence missed, but the end result is the same, no one woke up that morning deciding to make that error.

In the end the refining biz is a small segment of the working world. Over time we share a common experience and a certain love for what we do. It is a very small family and this week our family was painfully hurt.