Incident Report

Subject:           USA - Pascagoula, 1 Fatality in Mississippi Refinery Blast

Date of Email report:  Sat 16/11/2013

Report Detail:

PASCAGOULA, Mississippi -- Alabama resident Tonya Graddy, a five-year employee of Chevron Pascagoula Refinery, was killed in the early morning explosion and fire today, company leaders said during an 11 a.m. press conference.  Graddy, known as "Toni" to her coworkers, was an operator for the refinery, General Manager Tom Kovar said.   "We've reached out to her family ... to provide whatever help and support we can," he said. "This event weighs very heavily on all of the folks at the refinery, including me."  Jackson County Coroner Vicki Broadus said Graddy was from Semmes. The victim was born in 1964, although the coroner did not know Graddy's exact age. 

The last time the refinery experienced a fatality was in 2003, leaders said.   Kovar noted "it's going to be a lot of hard work and digging to find out what happened" during this morning's fire, and a lot of attention will be given to supporting the employees. 

Even though the refinery is large, with about 1,500 employees, "that may sound like a lot of people, but it's a family," he said. "We've got to not only help the family of the deceased, but I've got over 1,500 other family members who I've got to help through the grieving process, and we take this very, very serious."  The explosion happened in the furnace of the Cracking II Processing Unit around 2 a.m. Friday, according to Alan Sudduth, the company's public and government affairs director.

The cracking unit is used in the process breaking down hydrocarbons in the conversion crude oil into fuel and chemicals. A second person received minor injuries, was given first aid at the scene and was released.  Hundreds of workers were on site when the incident occurred, and there were about a dozen workers at the affected unit.   According to a prepared statement from the company, "We have secured the affected area with barricades and are assuring that the area is safe for investigators and other necessary personnel. We have begun the process of investigation this incident and are cooperating with appropriate regulatory agencies."  "The most important thing now is that we keep the refinery running securely and deal with the investigation ... to get to the root cause of the event," Kovar said during the press conference.

The investigation will help determine "what changes are necessary, if any, to make sure there's no recurrence," he said.   Kovar said he is still "very, very proud of the safety record" at the large and busy Pascagoula refinery.   In light of the tragic events, leaders said, the refinery has canceled its anniversary celebrations scheduled for this weekend.   The company had planned an open house and refinery tours for retirees, employees and their families, and invited community leaders to celebrate the refinery's 50th anniversary.

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