Odorization: simply a matter of safety

It has been almost seventy years since a tragic natural gas explosion occurred at a school building in New London, TX. This event opened the eyes of the community, the emerging natural gas industry, and the entire world.

Early in 1937, the New London school board, in order to save money, cancelled their natural gas contract. Instead, plumbers installed a tap into a residual gas line associated with oil production. This practice, while not explicitly authorized by local oil companies, was widespread in the area. The natural gas extracted with the oil was seen as a waste product and thus was flared off.

Natural gas, which is odorless and therefore undetectable to the human nose, had been leaking from the connection to the residual line. The gas had built up inside an enclosed crawlspace that ran the entire length of the school building. Students had been complaining of headaches for some time, but little attention was paid. 

For more go to Odorization: simply a matter of safety. (natural gas)(Brief article).  Pipeline & Gas Journal 233.11 (Nov 2006): p50(1).  http://www.oildompublishing.com/PGJ/pgjarchive/Nov06/Ordorization.pdf

The Origin of the Texas Engineering Practice Act

A Message from the Chairman of the Board by Govind Nadkarni, P.E

    As Chairman of the Board of Professional Engineers on the 70th anniversary of its creation, I wanted to find out more of the circumstances surrounding the Board's formation. I heard that a reunion and memorial service were to be held in New London, Texas, this year, honoring the survivors and remembering the loss of more than 300 students and teachers who died in the school explosion on March 18, 1937.

   This tragedy was the event that led to the Engineering Practice Act in Texas. I asked Executive Director Dale Beebe Farrow to join me in this commemoration. It was indeed an honor and an education for us to attend the memorial service and meet several of the survivors and others affected by the explosion. Each had a story to tell of the catastrophic event.  Read more: Texas Board of Professional Engineers Newsletter, Summer, 2007, Pg. 2

National Science Teachers Association Position Statements

Safety and School Science Instruction
Parent Involvement in Science Learning

A special responsibility

"Our daddies and mothers, as well as the teachers, want to know that when we leave our homes in the morning to go to school, that we will come out safe when our lessons are over." -- Carolyn Jones Frei,  March 25, 1937 speech she gave as fifth grader Carolyn Jones to the Texas House of Representatives.

"School officials have a special responsibility for the children in their care.  They are responsible for their safety, and their safe return to their families." -- Schools and Terrorism, A Supplement to the National Advisory Committee on Children and Terrorism Recommendations to the Secretary, August 12, 2003.

One injury can change a worker’s future forever; an accident that kills a construction worker affects a family for a lifetime. “ --Senator Stephen Lynch (D.- Boston)

Painters, employers make safety job one  "…worksite safety can do more than just save money; it can save lives and a family’s future… " -- Robert A. Jordon, Boston Globe Oct 21, 1997.

 “We want every employee to go to work, work safe, and come home to their family every day.”  -- Alan Kasow, president and owner of the M I McDonald Painting Co.

Blackboard found in the rubble.

 

Wright Room 102  5 D   March 18, 1937  

     Oil and natural gas are east Texas’ greatest mineral blessing.  Without them this school would not be here and none of us would be here learning our lessons.

Silence

Silence begets silence. The bigger the silence, the more powerful it is. Silence can become so  all-encompassing that one is not even aware of it.  In such instances, entire constellations of thoughts, questions and conversations simply do not arise.  Or, if they do, the pervasiveness of the silence makes them seem dangerous. Perhaps the last person who tried to break the silence got in trouble, perhaps she became a pariah, perhaps she lost her job. --  BEYOND ERIN BROCKOVITCH By Sonja Biorn-Hansen, in RACHEL'S ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH NEWS #815, http://www.rachel.org  April 14, 2005 Published April 28, 2005.  Sonja Biorn-Hansen an Environmental Engineer with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.