Here are a couple of links to 2 documents shown to me by one of our members in the Chat room:
Pictures PDF File

The second link is a report on this "accident":
Report PDF File

I find it very hard to believe that no-one was killed in this incident.

Proof once again that you 'get what you pay for.'

While I know nothing about the Dana company, I have seen far too many firms that:
a) Consider their maintenance people little more than talented chimps;
b) Refuse to hire qualified personnel (too expensive):
c) Refuse to either pay for training, or to adjust scheduling to allow for training;
d) Make the maintenance operations subsidiary to production;
e) Refuse to allow for regular maintenance of the equipment; and,
f) Consider 'safety' devices to be product defects.

THAT is incredible... Actually I am at a loss for words by the damage and no one was killed? All those involved or near that must have had someone watching over them that day I tell ya!
There have been 2 boiler explosions near here lately. The most recent one the operator was lucky. It WAS a 2 year old steam boiler similar to the one at the Dana plant but the explosion was a result of an ignition problem when the boilers were switched from nat gas to oil or the other way around... Funny thing is everyone said it was the operators fault, that he did it when " trying to light the pilot"... Nice try... No "standing pilot"

A.D

"unfortunately" It typicaly IS the operators fault.
This is why as an operator you ALWAYS document your actions.(period).This way the Corps actions and directives are noted.
BUT NEVER FORGET.. You are the professional on the job. Therefore responsability lies on you (This goes for you sparkies out there working for someone else, Don't for a moment think they'll take the "HEAT").
If they tell you/ask to do something that is way bad..."Just say NO" (Nancy Reagan..(I like the Reagans))
Remember.. You are the PROFESSIONAL, you are RESPONSABLE.
This is the REAL reason Lawyers were invented. To protect the conscientious .( some where along the line they lost their mission.. Oh Ya .. money)

leland, there is much truth in what you say. Personal responsibility seems to be actively discouraged far too often.

Yet .... just as every mysterious fire seems to get tagged as 'electrical,' every mishap seems to get blamed on the person they can place in the area at the time. No matter how uninvolved that person may have been, or how innocent .... some fools are going to jump to conclusions. These fools, unfortunately, seem to find their way into management (the Peter Principle?)

Simply put, the haste to point the finger usually results in the underlying problems NOT being corrected.

ALWAYS GO WITH YOUR GUT . Instinct and intuition have never let me down.
Good and bad ways to cheat (never cheat). Never compromise safety for a buck (or an "ATTABOY").
You are the "PRO" on the job, Do It correctly, or walk away.

YOU live with your decisions.

After seeing the pictures, I too am amazed nobody was killed by that, or even seriously injured.

Reading that account is fascinating from a technical perspective. I've always been interested in the forensics of engineering failures.

What always amazes me is the audacity of the people involved in these problems:

"We know that the boiler is operating improperly and going into fail-safe. Instead of addressing these problems with proper maintenance, we'll bypass safety systems that allow the boiler to fail-safe. Then, knowing that the boiler is operating in an un-safe condition, we'll allow the alarm system to remain inoperative, and additionally, we'll let the boiler run unattended for considerably longer than would be allowed even if it were operating safely."

It's incredible the number of things that had to go wrong for that boiler to explode, and equally incredible that the people operating the boiler had absolutely no problem letting all those things go wrong. Honestly, while reading that it reminded me of the accounts of the series of technical and personal failures that lead up to the Chernobyl explosion.

-John