Process Safety Wake-Up Call: Lessons from Recent Industrial Incidents Across the US

Process safety remains one of the most critical disciplines in high-hazard industries, yet recent incidents show persistent vulnerabilities.

Over the past month, several significant industrial incidents occurred across the United States. These events affected pulp and paper manufacturing, aerospace materials production, petroleum refining, and chemical processing.

Although the incidents varied in severity, they shared important characteristics. Some involved near-catastrophic conditions, while others resulted in smaller releases. However, all demonstrated the ongoing challenges associated with managing process safety risk.

These incidents were not isolated anomalies. Instead, they reflected recurring failure modes that continue to affect organizations across multiple sectors. More importantly, they revealed how known hazards can still produce serious consequences.

A closer review shows that many initiating causes were neither new nor unexpected. Rather, they involved familiar threats such as loss of containment, reactive chemical hazards, equipment degradation, and safeguard failures.

This raises an important question. Why do well-known failure modes continue to generate incidents despite decades of lessons learned? The answer often lies in execution. Organizations generally understand the hazards. However, competing priorities, inconsistent implementation, and declining process discipline can weaken safeguards over time.

Furthermore, these incidents highlight the growing connection between industrial operations and community risk. Evacuations, shelter-in-place orders, and public concern increasingly accompany major industrial events.

As a result, modern process safety must extend beyond facility boundaries. Organizations must integrate emergency preparedness, stakeholder communication, and community protection into their risk management strategies.

Process Safety Lessons from Recent Incidents

When reviewed collectively, these events reveal important patterns. These lessons can strengthen future hazard analyses, risk assessments, and safety programs.

For safety leaders, the objective is clear. Critical safeguards must remain reliable throughout the asset lifecycle.

Nippon Dynawave Packaging: Chemical Tank Rupture

On May 26, 2026, a catastrophic tank rupture occurred at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging facility in Longview, Washington. The tank contained white liquor, a highly corrosive chemical used in kraft pulp production. The incident resulted in one fatality, multiple injuries, and significant operational disruption.

White liquor contains sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide. Consequently, exposure creates severe chemical burn and inhalation hazards. The sudden loss of containment produced an unstable environment. Rescue operations became difficult due to structural concerns and remaining chemical hazards.

From a process safety perspective, this incident emphasizes mechanical integrity failures involving large storage vessels. Many bulk storage tanks fall outside traditional process safety management (PSM) focus areas. However, they often contain substantial quantities of hazardous materials.

Potential causes include corrosion, structural fatigue, or stress corrosion cracking. Therefore, inspection programs must remain rigorous.

The incident also highlights the importance of emergency planning for storage systems. Consequence modeling and response strategies must address worst-case failures.

GKN Aerospace: Thermal Runaway and BLEVE Risk

The GKN Aerospace incident in Garden Grove, California, represents a significant process safety near miss.

A storage tank containing methyl methacrylate experienced overheating and off-gassing. These conditions signaled the onset of thermal runaway.

Methyl methacrylate can polymerize rapidly when inhibitors degrade or temperature control fails. As a result, the storage tank effectively became an uncontrolled reactor. Heat generation accelerated internal pressure. Consequently, the risk of catastrophic rupture increased dramatically.

Emergency officials warned of a potential BLEVE. Therefore, evacuation orders affected approximately 40,000 to 50,000 residents. Fortunately, emergency responders prevented escalation through continuous cooling and pressure management.

This incident reinforces the importance of reactive chemical hazard management. Organizations must maintain reliable temperature monitoring, inhibitor systems, and emergency safeguards. Additionally, the event raises important questions regarding facility siting. A single tank threatened thousands of nearby residents.

As communities expand around industrial facilities, process safety must increasingly consider off-site consequences.

Chalmette Refinery: Explosion and Fire

On May 8, 2026, an explosion and fire occurred at the Chalmette Refinery in Louisiana. The event reportedly originated in an operating process unit. Possible causes included fired heater failure or related equipment malfunction. Although no injuries occurred, the incident generated a large fireball and visible smoke plume.

Refineries inherently operate with flammable materials, elevated temperatures, and pressurized systems. Therefore, even minor failures can escalate quickly. The event highlights the importance of disciplined maintenance programs. Critical equipment experiences continuous thermal stress and material degradation. Consequently, inspection and reliability programs remain essential.

This incident demonstrates how quickly loss of containment can become a significant fire event.

AdvanSix: Ammonia Vapor Release

On May 10, 2026, the AdvanSix facility in Hopewell, Virginia experienced an ammonia vapor release. Approximately 100 pounds of ammonia discharged through a safety relief valve. As a precaution, nearby residents received shelter-in-place instructions. Fortunately, concentrations never reached dangerous levels. The event was controlled quickly and caused no injuries.

However, the incident highlights an important process safety principle. Relief systems protect against overpressure events. Nevertheless, they can also become sources of hazardous releases.

Organizations must ensure venting systems adequately manage released materials. Scrubbers, flares, and treatment systems may be necessary. Furthermore, even small releases deserve investigation. They often indicate upstream deviations or equipment problems requiring corrective action.

Repeated minor events can erode public trust and signal larger organizational issues.

Emerging Process Safety Patterns

These incidents reveal several recurring themes relevant to safety professionals.

1. Loss of Containment Remains the Primary Threat

Loss of containment continues to dominate process safety incidents. Whether involving corrosives, hydrocarbons, toxic gases, or reactive chemicals, containment failure remains the primary pathway to harm. Therefore, organizations must prioritize mechanical integrity, operating discipline, and safeguard reliability.

2. Storage Systems Deserve Greater Attention

Storage tanks and intermediate vessels appeared prominently in multiple incidents. However, these systems often receive less scrutiny than reactors or high-pressure equipment. Despite this, they may contain large quantities of hazardous materials.

Organizations should reassess process hazard analyses to ensure storage systems receive appropriate attention.

3. Reactive Chemical Hazards Remain Significant

The GKN Aerospace event clearly illustrates the risks associated with reactive chemistry. Thermal runaway events can escalate rapidly when safeguards fail. Therefore, organizations must evaluate inhibitor management, runaway reaction scenarios, and emergency controls carefully. Reactive hazard reviews should remain central to process safety programs.

4. Emergency Response Still Matters

Rapid emergency response prevented catastrophic outcomes in multiple incidents. However, organizations should not rely solely on emergency intervention. Instead, process safety programs must prioritize prevention through inherently safer design and robust safeguards. Emergency response should remain the final layer of defense.

5. Community Risk Is Increasing

Large-scale evacuations demonstrate the growing impact of industrial incidents on surrounding communities. Public expectations regarding industrial safety continue to evolve. Consequently, organizations must integrate community risk considerations into facility planning and emergency management.

6. Aging Infrastructure Requires Attention

Equipment degradation remains a recurring factor across industries. Corrosion, fatigue, and obsolescence increase failure likelihood when left unmanaged. Therefore, organizations must invest consistently in mechanical integrity and reliability programs. Risk-based inspection methodologies can help prioritize resources effectively.

7. Contractor Management Influences Process Safety Performance

Many facilities depend heavily on contractors for maintenance, inspections, and specialized services. However, contractors can introduce risk if they lack appropriate qualifications or process safety knowledge.

Prequalification programs should evaluate more than injury rates. They should also assess process safety competency and hazard awareness.

Additionally, contractors must understand site-specific requirements and expectations. Strong onboarding, supervision, and verification processes remain essential. Historical investigations repeatedly identify breakdowns between owner organizations and contractors.

Therefore, contractor oversight deserves sustained leadership attention.

8. Bridging the Gap Between Knowledge and Execution

Perhaps the most important lesson is that these hazards are already well understood. The process safety profession has documented these risks extensively. Yet similar incidents continue to occur.

This gap often reflects resource constraints, competing priorities, and declining discipline. Strong leadership remains essential for maintaining focus on process safety fundamentals. Organizations must treat process safety as a core operational value rather than a compliance obligation.

Conclusion

The recent series of industrial incidents provides an important opportunity for reflection. Although the events varied in scale and consequence, they revealed familiar vulnerabilities. Loss of containment, reactive chemistry, equipment degradation, and contractor oversight remain persistent challenges.

Furthermore, community impacts continue to expand the scope of process safety responsibilities. The profession does not suffer from a lack of knowledge. Instead, the challenge lies in applying that knowledge consistently. Organizations should evaluate their own systems against these patterns.

Mechanical integrity programs, reactive hazard controls, contractor management practices, and emergency preparedness efforts all deserve renewed scrutiny.

Ultimately, effective process safety requires more than compliance. It requires disciplined execution, leadership commitment, and continuous learning. Organizations that embrace these principles will be better positioned to prevent incidents, protect communities, and build resilient operations.

About the Author

James A. Junkin, MS, CSP, MSP, SMS, ASP, CSHO is the chief executive officer of Mariner-Gulf Consulting & Services, LLC and the chair of the Veriforce Strategic Advisory Board and the past chair of Professional Safety journal’s editorial review board. James is a member of the Advisory Board for the National Association of Safety Professionals (NASP). He is Columbia Southern University’s 2022 Safety Professional of the Year (Runner Up), a 2023 recipient of the National Association of Environmental Management’s (NAEM) 30 over 30 Award for excellence in the practice of occupational safety and health and sustainability, and the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) 2024 Safety Professional of the Year for Training and Communications, and the recipient of the ASSP 2023-2024 Charles V. Culberson award. He is a much sought after master trainer, keynote speaker, podcaster of The Risk Matrix, and author of numerous articles concerning occupational safety and health. He is a proud veteran of the United States Navy and a strong advocate for veteran causes.