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Investigation of Grain Elevator Explosions (1981)

Chapter: Administrative Issues to be Resolved

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Suggested Citation:"Administrative Issues to be Resolved." National Research Council. 1981. Investigation of Grain Elevator Explosions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18489.
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Suggested Citation:"Administrative Issues to be Resolved." National Research Council. 1981. Investigation of Grain Elevator Explosions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18489.
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Page 10

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The reports of explosion investigations should be stan- dardized so that commonalities among different explosions can be codified and effective preventive actions taken. The reports should be made public so that their findings can be used by the industry to prevent future explosions. The agency that is ultimately assigned the responsibility for investigation should publish the report. The reporting format evolved over the years within the National Transpor- tation Safety Board could serve as a, model for reporting the investigation. The recommended format is; 1. Investigation a. Operational history b. Injuries c. Damage to the elevator d. Other damage e. Personnel information f. Elevator information g. Meteorological information h. Standards in force i. Wreckage and explosion information j. Medical and pathological information k. Fire cause and damage 1. Survival aspects m. Elevator instrumentation n. Tests and research o. Other information 2. Analysis 3. Conclusions. ADMINISTRATIVE ISSUES TO BE RESOLVED As noted in the previous section of this report, there are some actions to be taken and fundamental issues to be resolved before grain elevator explosions can be properly investigated. In summary they are as follows; 1, A federal department or agency should be given the authority and responsibility to conduct grain ele- vator explosion investigations in the manner recom- mended by the panel. This should not be a regula- tory agency. The group making these investigations should have no authority to take or abet punitive action.

10 2, The question of witness immunity from prosecution should be resolved. The panel feels that the investigating team should have the authority to grant immunity if and only if it is needed to com- plete the investigation. Granting of this authority to the team would require legislative action. 3. Standards should be established to govern the re- source allocation (budget) for any given magnitude of grain elevator explosion. While it is assumed that every catastrophic disaster will warrant in- vestigation, there is a level of damage, lost time, etc., below which extensive investigation may not be economically justifiable. However, the investi- gation of smaller, less damaging explosions may be very informative with very little expenditure of time by an expert team and thus could warrant investigation on a selective basis. The decision for conducting an investigation should not be based solely on the occurrence of a minimum number of employee injuries or fatalities.

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