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Longford Explosion

The 1998 Esso Longford gas explosion killed two workers and injured eight, severely affecting gas supplies to Victoria for two weeks. The fire was not extinguished for two days, shutting down the entire state's gas supply and devastating the economy. A Royal Commission found Esso fully responsible, citing failures in safety practices and plant design. Esso was later found guilty of health and safety violations and fined $2 million, and also paid $32.5 million to settle a class action from businesses affected by the gas crisis.

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189 views2 pages

Longford Explosion

The 1998 Esso Longford gas explosion killed two workers and injured eight, severely affecting gas supplies to Victoria for two weeks. The fire was not extinguished for two days, shutting down the entire state's gas supply and devastating the economy. A Royal Commission found Esso fully responsible, citing failures in safety practices and plant design. Esso was later found guilty of health and safety violations and fined $2 million, and also paid $32.5 million to settle a class action from businesses affected by the gas crisis.

Uploaded by

Zalu Prasetyo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Longford Explosion

The 1998 Esso Longford gas explosion was a catastrophic industrial accident which
occurred at the Esso natural gas plant at Longford in the Australian state of Victoria.
On 25 September 1998, an explosion took place at the plant, killing two workers and
injuring eight. Gas supplies to the state of Victoria were severely affected for two
weeks.
Aftermath
The fire at the plant was not extinguished until two days later. The Longford plant was
shut down immediately, and the state of Victoria was left without its primary gas
supplier. Within days, the Victorian Energy Network Corporation shut down the state's
entire gas supply. The resulting gas supply shortage was devastating to Victoria's
economy, (in particular, the hospitality industry which relied on natural gas for
cooking). Loss to industry during the crisis was estimated at around AUD$1.3 billion.
As natural gas was also widely used in houses in Victoria for cooking, water heating
and home heating, many Victorians endured 20 days of cold showers and cold nights.
A Royal Commission was called into the explosion at Longford, headed by former
High Court judge Daryl Dawson.
The Commission found Esso fully responsible for the accident:
The causes of the accident on 25 September 1998 amounted to a failure to provide
and maintain so far as practicable a working environment that was safe and without
risks to health. This constituted a breach or breaches of Section 21 of the
Occupational Health and Safety Act 1985.
Other findings of the Royal Commission included:
l the Longford plant was poorly designed, and made isolation of dangerous
vapours and materials very difficult;
l inadequate training of personnel in normal operating procedures of a hazardous
process;
l excessive alarm and warning systems had caused workers to become desensitised
to possible hazardous occurrences;
l the relocation of plant engineers to Melbourne had reduced the quality of
supervision at the plant;
l poor communication between shifts meant that the pump shutdown was not
communicated to the following shift.

Legal ramifications
Esso was taken to the Supreme Court of Victoria by the Victorian WorkCover
Authority. The jury found the company guilty of eleven breaches of the Occupational
Health and Safety Act 1985, and Justice Philip Cummins imposed a record fine of $2
million in July 2001.
In addition, a class action was taken on behalf of businesses, industries and domestic
users who were financially affected by the gas crisis. The class action went to trial in
the Supreme Court on 4 September 2002, and was eventually settled in December
2004 when Esso was ordered to pay $32.5million to businesses which suffered
property damage as a result of the incident.

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