03/05 11:53 *FIVE HURT IN THURS. BLAST AT EQUILON ANACORTES, WASH. REFINERY -

LOS ANGELES, March 5 (Reuters) - Five people were hurt when an explosion rocked an oil refinery in Anacortes, Wash. owned by Equilon Enterprises LLC, a local fire official said on Friday.

There were no fatalities in the blast, which hit at 3:30 p.m. PST (6:30 p.m. EST) on Thursday, said Rick Auston, Assistant Chief of the Anacortes Fire Department.

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Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), March 05, 1999

Answers

Additional followup .... unit, which was already down for scheduled maintenance, said refinery spokesman

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03/05 13:45 *EQUILON SAYS ANACORTES, WASH., REFINERY INCIDENT INVOLVED POLYMERIZATION UNIT

LOS ANGELES, March 5 (Reuters) - An accident at Equilon Enterprise LLC's refinery in Anacortes, Wash., which injured five workers, affected the facility's polymerization unit, a company spokesman said on Friday.

The incident involved a "rapid steam release" at the unit, which was already down for scheduled maintenance, said refinery spokesman Lee Reagin.

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), March 05, 1999.

Our NA here (net admin) has a cousin working in a chemical refinery in Corpus Christi whose embedded systems policy is fix-on-failure.

Enough explosion coverage, coupled with rising Y2K employee awareness at the plants, and we could see considerable sickouts circa the rollover. Sure, they can cancel your vacation....

-- Lisa (lisa@work.for_three_more_hours), March 05, 1999.