Change Management - Interconnection and Single Supply
At the Esso gas plant, Longford in South Eastern Victoria and explosion at gas plant one lead to the closure of the whole site for two weeks. The reason the other two could not go on producing was that these three plants were inextricably interconnected. After the fire began in gas plant one, it continued to be fed by inventory from gas plants two and three for another fifty-three hours.
It took them more than a week to completely isolate gas plant one from gas plants two and three, and get gas plants two and three back online safely. There were eight-five points where disconnections needed to be made. Esso had no plans for doing this, and they had to work out from scratch just what to do. What we have then is a failure to identify the hazards of interconnection. Professor Andrew Hopkins explains further in the process training video Interconnection and Single Supply – watch the full preview below.