1 00:00:15,410 --> 00:00:21,090 Speaker 1: Pushkin. In the episode You're About to Hear, I mentioned 2 00:00:21,090 --> 00:00:24,370 Speaker 1: the new podcast Business History, and I thought you might 3 00:00:24,410 --> 00:00:27,050 Speaker 1: want to hear a bit more about it. Business History 4 00:00:27,210 --> 00:00:32,010 Speaker 1: is hosted by two podcasting legends, Robert Smith and Jacob Goldstein. 5 00:00:32,410 --> 00:00:35,650 Speaker 1: Robert and Jacob tell the stories behind famous companies and 6 00:00:35,930 --> 00:00:40,490 Speaker 1: iconic products, and chart financial booms and bursting bubbles and 7 00:00:40,730 --> 00:00:43,130 Speaker 1: as they say in Hollywood. This new show comes from 8 00:00:43,170 --> 00:00:47,410 Speaker 1: the producers of Cautionary Tales. Listen to Business History wherever 9 00:00:47,490 --> 00:00:51,050 Speaker 1: you get your podcasts, or search Business History podcast on 10 00:00:51,090 --> 00:00:58,810 Speaker 1: YouTube to see it in video form. Lincolnshire, on the 11 00:00:58,890 --> 00:01:04,250 Speaker 1: east coast of England, sparsely populated and largely rural. Few 12 00:01:04,330 --> 00:01:08,290 Speaker 1: great moments of history have been made here. Large towns 13 00:01:08,330 --> 00:01:12,570 Speaker 1: are also the people tend to live in small villages, 14 00:01:12,970 --> 00:01:18,010 Speaker 1: engaged in such bucolic activities as potato farming and pig husbandry. 15 00:01:18,650 --> 00:01:22,330 Speaker 1: It seems hard to believe that Lincolnshire is on anyone's radar. 16 00:01:23,610 --> 00:01:28,370 Speaker 1: The county is famed for something though, being flat, and 17 00:01:28,410 --> 00:01:35,490 Speaker 1: that flatness has given Lincolnshire a geopolitical significance. It's perfect 18 00:01:35,810 --> 00:01:52,450 Speaker 1: for air bases. In the early summer of nineteen seventy four, 19 00:01:52,890 --> 00:01:57,730 Speaker 1: Lincolnshire is home to v Force of the RAF. The 20 00:01:57,810 --> 00:02:02,130 Speaker 1: giant Vulcan bombers screaming up this long runway a part 21 00:02:02,170 --> 00:02:06,370 Speaker 1: of Britain's nuclear deterrented. If a Soviet Union launches a 22 00:02:06,410 --> 00:02:10,450 Speaker 1: surprise atomic strike, these Royal Air Force crews have just 23 00:02:10,530 --> 00:02:13,650 Speaker 1: a few minutes warning to get into the air and 24 00:02:13,890 --> 00:02:19,170 Speaker 1: hit back, devastating karl Markstadt, Minsk or Moscow in retaliation. 25 00:02:23,290 --> 00:02:26,930 Speaker 1: The Vulcan pilots would doubtless have much on their minds 26 00:02:26,970 --> 00:02:30,490 Speaker 1: given the mission ahead, but few wasted time in thinking 27 00:02:30,490 --> 00:02:34,650 Speaker 1: of their return home. The quite reasonable assumption is that 28 00:02:34,690 --> 00:02:39,490 Speaker 1: the Russians would pulverize Lincolnshire and its runways while they 29 00:02:39,490 --> 00:02:46,130 Speaker 1: were away. It's late on a Saturday afternoon and farmer 30 00:02:46,250 --> 00:02:49,930 Speaker 1: Gordon Atkinson is working in a sugar beet field near 31 00:02:49,970 --> 00:02:55,370 Speaker 1: the hamlet of brandy Wharf, but a distant noise prompts 32 00:02:55,450 --> 00:02:59,370 Speaker 1: him to look up from his labors. I heard this 33 00:02:59,530 --> 00:03:03,770 Speaker 1: rumble and thought it's going to be a thunderstorm, he said, 34 00:03:05,210 --> 00:03:09,770 Speaker 1: But that rolling boom was no act of God. Its 35 00:03:09,810 --> 00:03:15,490 Speaker 1: origins were man made. An enormous explosion has just ripped 36 00:03:15,530 --> 00:03:20,050 Speaker 1: across northern Lincolnshire, and if that wasn't obvious to Gordon Atkinson. 37 00:03:20,610 --> 00:03:26,530 Speaker 1: It was all too clear to his elderly mother. She's 38 00:03:26,570 --> 00:03:30,650 Speaker 1: been spending a quiet afternoon at home twenty miles near 39 00:03:30,690 --> 00:03:35,730 Speaker 1: at the epicenter of the detonation. Her house was now 40 00:03:35,970 --> 00:03:44,010 Speaker 1: as shambles. The blast ripped the front door off its 41 00:03:44,090 --> 00:03:47,730 Speaker 1: hinges and sent it rocketing up the staircase to the 42 00:03:47,770 --> 00:03:52,450 Speaker 1: floor above. If she could see, Missus Atkinson might have 43 00:03:52,570 --> 00:03:55,890 Speaker 1: despaired at the state of her lounge, littered as it 44 00:03:56,130 --> 00:04:00,970 Speaker 1: was with shards of glass and tatters of curtaincloth. But 45 00:04:01,090 --> 00:04:05,330 Speaker 1: she couldn't see. The blast wave had come whooshing down 46 00:04:05,370 --> 00:04:09,690 Speaker 1: the chimney stack, filling the house with a blinding, choking 47 00:04:09,850 --> 00:04:15,290 Speaker 1: veil of soot. People ten, twenty, even thirty miles from 48 00:04:15,330 --> 00:04:19,890 Speaker 1: the explosion stopped in their tracks to look in the 49 00:04:19,930 --> 00:04:29,210 Speaker 1: direction of Missus Atkinson's village. Flicksborough, teenager Leduena Beckers was 50 00:04:29,290 --> 00:04:33,530 Speaker 1: watching the football on TV with her four brothers, rushing 51 00:04:33,530 --> 00:04:36,410 Speaker 1: to look out the window. The family joked about what 52 00:04:36,490 --> 00:04:39,850 Speaker 1: the source of the noise might be. But then we 53 00:04:39,890 --> 00:04:43,610 Speaker 1: saw the mushroom cloud, dark and ominous in the sky, 54 00:04:44,490 --> 00:04:51,210 Speaker 1: said Ladrena. All laughter in the Beckers household stopped had 55 00:04:51,530 --> 00:04:57,850 Speaker 1: World War IREE really begun. I'm Tim Harford and you're 56 00:04:57,930 --> 00:05:28,690 Speaker 1: listening to another cautionary tale. You've probably never heard of polycaprolactum, 57 00:05:29,010 --> 00:05:33,130 Speaker 1: even by its snappier monica nylon six. But I'll bet 58 00:05:33,210 --> 00:05:36,650 Speaker 1: there's some nylon six within arms reach of you right now. 59 00:05:37,410 --> 00:05:40,610 Speaker 1: It's used in all manner of items. It makes the 60 00:05:40,650 --> 00:05:44,650 Speaker 1: bristles of toothbrushes and the strings of tennis rackets. You 61 00:05:44,690 --> 00:05:49,690 Speaker 1: can find it inside almost every electrical gadget, and since 62 00:05:49,810 --> 00:05:53,850 Speaker 1: nylon six is used to fashion medical implants, you might 63 00:05:53,890 --> 00:05:59,810 Speaker 1: even have some inside you. Nylon six is strong, hard 64 00:05:59,890 --> 00:06:04,090 Speaker 1: and tough. It won't conduct electricity and doesn't taint foods 65 00:06:04,130 --> 00:06:08,370 Speaker 1: it comes into contact with. It's useful stuff, and it 66 00:06:08,410 --> 00:06:11,970 Speaker 1: would be hard to imagine our world without it. Flying 67 00:06:11,970 --> 00:06:14,930 Speaker 1: a plane, driving a car, or even getting dressed in 68 00:06:14,930 --> 00:06:19,650 Speaker 1: the morning would be a very different proposition without nylon six. 69 00:06:21,090 --> 00:06:25,090 Speaker 1: Nylon six was an invention of Nazi Germany. The polymer 70 00:06:25,170 --> 00:06:29,450 Speaker 1: was used to make parachute canopies, tires for warplanes, and 71 00:06:29,490 --> 00:06:34,370 Speaker 1: the toe ropes of gliders. But nylon six production really 72 00:06:34,410 --> 00:06:37,890 Speaker 1: boomed in the post war years, with factories around the 73 00:06:37,930 --> 00:06:41,570 Speaker 1: world pumping out the stuff. Depending on where you lived, 74 00:06:41,770 --> 00:06:46,970 Speaker 1: it might be marketed as Perlon, Nilotron, ultramid, or Jurathan. 75 00:06:48,610 --> 00:06:51,410 Speaker 1: I won't bore you with the details of its manufacture, 76 00:06:51,530 --> 00:06:55,370 Speaker 1: but this story centers around the production of caprolactum, from 77 00:06:55,450 --> 00:06:59,930 Speaker 1: which nylon six is made. By the nineteen seventies, nylon 78 00:07:00,010 --> 00:07:04,010 Speaker 1: six was in huge demand. The fibers were so ubiquitous 79 00:07:04,050 --> 00:07:06,170 Speaker 1: that there was even a fashion for people to carpet 80 00:07:06,210 --> 00:07:10,410 Speaker 1: their entire homes wall to wall with the stuff. To 81 00:07:10,450 --> 00:07:13,810 Speaker 1: meet this clamor, a joint venture was launched by the 82 00:07:13,890 --> 00:07:18,490 Speaker 1: Dutch State Mines and the British National Coal Board. There 83 00:07:18,530 --> 00:07:22,370 Speaker 1: had been a modest factory at Flicksborough making fertilizer from 84 00:07:22,410 --> 00:07:27,090 Speaker 1: the mucky waste from local steel foundries, but now under 85 00:07:27,130 --> 00:07:31,770 Speaker 1: the name Nypro, Flicksburg was getting into the glamorous world 86 00:07:32,170 --> 00:07:37,570 Speaker 1: of polymers. The plant would be transformed at the cost 87 00:07:37,650 --> 00:07:41,490 Speaker 1: of many millions of pounds, and the workforce would swell 88 00:07:41,650 --> 00:07:45,930 Speaker 1: into the hundreds. Local newspapers soon filled up with recruitment 89 00:07:46,010 --> 00:07:51,570 Speaker 1: ads for chemists, engineers, shorthand typists and canteen staff. It 90 00:07:51,650 --> 00:07:54,770 Speaker 1: was expected the complex would use as much power as 91 00:07:54,810 --> 00:07:58,010 Speaker 1: a city of half a million people, all to produce 92 00:07:58,290 --> 00:08:02,970 Speaker 1: seventy thousand tons of cap prolactum per year. It would 93 00:08:02,970 --> 00:08:10,730 Speaker 1: be Britain's biggest, indeed its only caprolactum plant. Nypro was 94 00:08:10,850 --> 00:08:15,010 Speaker 1: essentially putting all its eggs in one basket, and to 95 00:08:15,050 --> 00:08:19,530 Speaker 1: many this reasoning seemed sound. Building a single mega factory 96 00:08:19,690 --> 00:08:24,930 Speaker 1: offered considerable economies of scale. It would simplify transport and logistics, 97 00:08:25,210 --> 00:08:28,770 Speaker 1: and allow Nipro to strike bulk buying deals for energy 98 00:08:28,850 --> 00:08:34,810 Speaker 1: and raw materials. So in sleepy rural Lincolnshire, on a 99 00:08:34,890 --> 00:08:39,170 Speaker 1: curve of the Broad River trend, the Nypro works quickly 100 00:08:39,210 --> 00:08:44,810 Speaker 1: took shape. Gargantuan cranes hoisted gleaming steel processing tanks into place. 101 00:08:45,290 --> 00:08:50,290 Speaker 1: Chimneys and cooling towers went up, as did tall spindleaf flarestacks. 102 00:08:51,250 --> 00:08:56,210 Speaker 1: After dark, their flames, along with countless strings of lights, 103 00:08:56,770 --> 00:09:00,850 Speaker 1: picked out the silhouette of the plant against the night sky. 104 00:09:05,690 --> 00:09:10,090 Speaker 1: Dennis Lawrence was one of Nipro's employees. He loved the job. 105 00:09:10,410 --> 00:09:13,610 Speaker 1: He told his family the plant was just so modern, 106 00:09:14,330 --> 00:09:21,530 Speaker 1: so clean, but all was not well at nightprob The 107 00:09:21,690 --> 00:09:26,210 Speaker 1: target was to produce seventy thousand tonnes of caprolactum per year, 108 00:09:26,450 --> 00:09:30,090 Speaker 1: but by nineteen seventy four. Two years into the expansion, 109 00:09:30,690 --> 00:09:33,730 Speaker 1: only forty seven thousand tons were likely to leave the 110 00:09:33,770 --> 00:09:37,890 Speaker 1: factory gate. For Nipro to turn a profit, they needed 111 00:09:37,930 --> 00:09:41,890 Speaker 1: to make more of the stuff, and quickly. The heart 112 00:09:41,890 --> 00:09:45,170 Speaker 1: of the factory was a series of six identical steel 113 00:09:45,210 --> 00:09:49,570 Speaker 1: reactor vessels. These cylindrical tanks were installed in a line 114 00:09:49,690 --> 00:09:54,170 Speaker 1: and connected by pipework. The first, sixteen foot tall vessel 115 00:09:54,370 --> 00:09:57,490 Speaker 1: was the highest in this chain. The second vessel was 116 00:09:57,530 --> 00:10:02,530 Speaker 1: placed fourteen inches lower, and so on. Thus gravity would 117 00:10:02,570 --> 00:10:06,050 Speaker 1: aid the flow of chemicals from one down to the next, 118 00:10:07,250 --> 00:10:13,850 Speaker 1: and the chemical inside was liquid cyclo hexaane, which was pressurized, heated, 119 00:10:14,370 --> 00:10:17,490 Speaker 1: and then blasted with compressed air as it traveled through 120 00:10:17,490 --> 00:10:23,170 Speaker 1: the vessels. The boss is at Nipro had high hopes 121 00:10:23,210 --> 00:10:25,890 Speaker 1: for this part of the plant, but so far its 122 00:10:25,930 --> 00:10:31,010 Speaker 1: operation was proving troublesome. Nypro worker Dennis Lawrence confided to 123 00:10:31,090 --> 00:10:34,730 Speaker 1: his wife that there had been leaks. She didn't like 124 00:10:34,770 --> 00:10:40,050 Speaker 1: the sound of that and worried for his safety. Cyclohexaye is, 125 00:10:40,290 --> 00:10:44,490 Speaker 1: after all, an incredibly flammable liquid, and when it escape 126 00:10:44,570 --> 00:10:47,770 Speaker 1: since the open air, it tends to vaporize, forming a 127 00:10:47,850 --> 00:10:53,930 Speaker 1: deadly combustible cloud. Dennis, a part time firefighter, had told 128 00:10:53,970 --> 00:10:57,610 Speaker 1: his wife that if the cyclohexane tanks ever went up, 129 00:10:58,170 --> 00:11:03,770 Speaker 1: there'd be no hope for anyone on the site. The 130 00:11:03,890 --> 00:11:08,210 Speaker 1: management was alive to these risks. Arriving workers were frisked 131 00:11:08,210 --> 00:11:12,890 Speaker 1: for cigarettes and lighters, and the technicians who worked closest 132 00:11:12,890 --> 00:11:16,090 Speaker 1: to the chemicals wore special shoes to reduce the risk 133 00:11:16,130 --> 00:11:20,610 Speaker 1: of creating a spark. That said, it was feared that 134 00:11:20,770 --> 00:11:24,850 Speaker 1: even someone shifting too quickly in a fashionable nylon shirt 135 00:11:25,090 --> 00:11:32,770 Speaker 1: could produce enough static charge to ignite an explosion. Naturally, 136 00:11:33,050 --> 00:11:36,170 Speaker 1: when a six foot long crack was discovered in the 137 00:11:36,330 --> 00:11:39,570 Speaker 1: fifth of the six steel reactor vessels in March nineteen 138 00:11:39,610 --> 00:11:43,290 Speaker 1: seventy four, the whole array was immediately closed down and 139 00:11:43,370 --> 00:11:47,890 Speaker 1: allowed to cool off. It was swiftly decided that vessel 140 00:11:48,050 --> 00:11:52,570 Speaker 1: five should be removed, but that a costly shutdown could 141 00:11:52,650 --> 00:11:56,410 Speaker 1: be avoided if the remaining vessels were pressed back into 142 00:11:56,490 --> 00:12:00,650 Speaker 1: service connected with a temporary pipe where reactor five should 143 00:12:00,650 --> 00:12:03,650 Speaker 1: have been. This pipe would simply have to be designed 144 00:12:03,730 --> 00:12:08,650 Speaker 1: and built on site. No one in authority thought this 145 00:12:09,250 --> 00:12:13,130 Speaker 1: close or hazardous decision. They were said to regard it 146 00:12:13,170 --> 00:12:18,530 Speaker 1: as no more than a routine plumbing job, but unfortunately 147 00:12:19,170 --> 00:12:23,290 Speaker 1: we don't always know what we don't know. A mechanical 148 00:12:23,330 --> 00:12:26,770 Speaker 1: engineer might have told them that fabricating such a pipe 149 00:12:26,970 --> 00:12:31,810 Speaker 1: was fraught with difficulties. But amongst all the newspaper ads 150 00:12:31,810 --> 00:12:35,210 Speaker 1: for cooks and clerks and draftsmen to join the workforce 151 00:12:35,250 --> 00:12:40,330 Speaker 1: at Flicksborough, there was also a situation's vacant notice for 152 00:12:40,370 --> 00:12:45,810 Speaker 1: a mechanical engineer, and that position had yet to be filled. 153 00:12:48,410 --> 00:13:02,210 Speaker 1: Cautionary tales were returned shortly. The plans for the temporary 154 00:13:02,290 --> 00:13:05,850 Speaker 1: pipe were supposedly sketched out in chalk on the floor 155 00:13:05,850 --> 00:13:10,690 Speaker 1: of the factory's workshop, and if that sounds worryingly cavalier, 156 00:13:11,410 --> 00:13:15,930 Speaker 1: you haven't heard the half of it. The existing pipes 157 00:13:16,530 --> 00:13:21,490 Speaker 1: carrying pressurized and scalding hot liquid cyclohexane from vessel to 158 00:13:21,570 --> 00:13:28,650 Speaker 1: vessel measured twenty eight inches across, but no spare piping 159 00:13:28,730 --> 00:13:32,210 Speaker 1: of that size could be found laying around the niproplant. 160 00:13:33,770 --> 00:13:37,330 Speaker 1: Instead of delaying the repair to order some a handy 161 00:13:37,410 --> 00:13:42,450 Speaker 1: length of twenty inch pipe was substituted, roughly half the 162 00:13:42,530 --> 00:13:48,290 Speaker 1: capacity of the original. Pushing the cyclohexane from a broad 163 00:13:48,410 --> 00:13:52,410 Speaker 1: pipe into a thinner one creates issues, but some rough 164 00:13:52,490 --> 00:13:56,650 Speaker 1: calculations reassured the nprobosses that the smaller pipe could take 165 00:13:56,730 --> 00:14:02,810 Speaker 1: the strain. But the original twenty eight inch pipes ran straight, 166 00:14:03,770 --> 00:14:07,570 Speaker 1: and by removing React of five, the NPRO workers now 167 00:14:07,610 --> 00:14:11,810 Speaker 1: needed its smaller replace to accommodate the considerable drop in 168 00:14:11,890 --> 00:14:18,170 Speaker 1: height from vessel four to vessel six, So they gave 169 00:14:18,210 --> 00:14:21,570 Speaker 1: the new pipe a dog leg by welding two joints 170 00:14:21,610 --> 00:14:26,250 Speaker 1: along its length, So now the pipe ran straight, drop down, 171 00:14:26,810 --> 00:14:29,890 Speaker 1: ran straight, a bit more, drop down again, and then 172 00:14:30,250 --> 00:14:35,170 Speaker 1: joined React to vessel six. If they'd consulted the relevant 173 00:14:35,250 --> 00:14:39,170 Speaker 1: safety standards, the men putting these kinks in the pipe 174 00:14:39,250 --> 00:14:42,530 Speaker 1: would have known that their welds weren't up to the task. 175 00:14:43,210 --> 00:14:46,050 Speaker 1: For when you force a moving liquid to change direction, 176 00:14:46,370 --> 00:14:49,970 Speaker 1: it puts extra strain on the points where your pipe bends. 177 00:14:51,650 --> 00:14:58,050 Speaker 1: This is all bad, but we're still not finished. The 178 00:14:58,090 --> 00:15:02,050 Speaker 1: forces acting on the pipe's two bends would also cause 179 00:15:02,090 --> 00:15:06,450 Speaker 1: a so called turning moment, causing the metalwork to shift 180 00:15:06,650 --> 00:15:10,970 Speaker 1: and twist in worrying ways. To counteract these forces, they 181 00:15:10,970 --> 00:15:15,370 Speaker 1: need to secure the whole structure firmly. But as they 182 00:15:15,410 --> 00:15:20,010 Speaker 1: hoisted their replacement pipe into place, the NYPRO workers merely 183 00:15:20,210 --> 00:15:26,530 Speaker 1: perched it on some flimsy scaffolding poles. Each original pipe 184 00:15:26,610 --> 00:15:29,730 Speaker 1: was fitted with a bellows joint, essentially a rubber section 185 00:15:29,890 --> 00:15:32,970 Speaker 1: that could expand and move to help absorb some of 186 00:15:32,970 --> 00:15:36,970 Speaker 1: the forces acting on the rigid metalwork. No one thought 187 00:15:37,090 --> 00:15:40,730 Speaker 1: to ask the manufacturer of these rubber joints if they 188 00:15:40,770 --> 00:15:43,610 Speaker 1: were strong enough to absorb the forces at play in 189 00:15:43,690 --> 00:15:48,370 Speaker 1: this jerry rigged pipework. If the replacement pipe began to 190 00:15:48,490 --> 00:15:53,570 Speaker 1: buck and squirm, would these bellows joints just split apart. 191 00:15:55,090 --> 00:15:59,330 Speaker 1: A mechanical engineer would immediately have spotted all these dangers, 192 00:15:59,650 --> 00:16:03,730 Speaker 1: but there wasn't one on site. A chemical engineer around 193 00:16:03,730 --> 00:16:07,090 Speaker 1: the npro operation. He was no doubt highly trained in 194 00:16:07,170 --> 00:16:10,970 Speaker 1: his own field, but such was narrow back then and 195 00:16:11,010 --> 00:16:17,130 Speaker 1: wouldn't have included even the most basic mechanical concepts. It 196 00:16:17,250 --> 00:16:21,010 Speaker 1: was an electrical engineer who oversaw the repair crew, and 197 00:16:21,170 --> 00:16:24,570 Speaker 1: he wasn't educated to degree level. And the workmen themselves 198 00:16:24,610 --> 00:16:27,210 Speaker 1: can hardly have been expected to spot the flaws in 199 00:16:27,250 --> 00:16:31,690 Speaker 1: the design lots more, they were working at breakneck speed 200 00:16:31,770 --> 00:16:35,930 Speaker 1: to complete the job. The crack in Vessel five had 201 00:16:35,970 --> 00:16:39,930 Speaker 1: been spotted on March the twenty seventh nineteen seventy four. 202 00:16:40,530 --> 00:16:44,010 Speaker 1: Once it had been lifted clear, the design, building and 203 00:16:44,330 --> 00:16:49,090 Speaker 1: installation of the replacement pipe had taken just thirty hours. 204 00:16:50,410 --> 00:16:54,050 Speaker 1: There followed a rather half hearted attempt to test the 205 00:16:54,210 --> 00:16:59,290 Speaker 1: dog legged assembly. Gas rather than liquid, was pushed into 206 00:16:59,290 --> 00:17:04,050 Speaker 1: the pipe that pressures approximating the normal operation of the system. 207 00:17:04,330 --> 00:17:07,130 Speaker 1: The normal operation mine no thought was given to an 208 00:17:07,170 --> 00:17:11,370 Speaker 1: abnormal spike in pressure. The system, of course had a 209 00:17:11,410 --> 00:17:14,650 Speaker 1: safety valve to release pressure if such a spike became 210 00:17:14,730 --> 00:17:18,890 Speaker 1: too much and threatened to burst the vessels and original pipes, 211 00:17:19,650 --> 00:17:22,850 Speaker 1: but the replacement pipe was never tested to see if 212 00:17:22,850 --> 00:17:31,330 Speaker 1: it would fail before this safety valve kicked in. So 213 00:17:31,970 --> 00:17:37,010 Speaker 1: on April fools Day nineteen seventy four, just five days 214 00:17:37,050 --> 00:17:41,730 Speaker 1: after the vessel cracked, Flicksburgh was back at work oxidizing 215 00:17:42,050 --> 00:17:47,890 Speaker 1: highly flammable cyclohexaane. The management and board of Nipro were 216 00:17:47,930 --> 00:17:51,810 Speaker 1: no doubt delighted by this performance. The outward flow of 217 00:17:51,970 --> 00:17:56,090 Speaker 1: capro lactum could resume, and so too could the inward 218 00:17:56,170 --> 00:18:04,530 Speaker 1: flow of money. Whenever you centralize production, when you put 219 00:18:04,570 --> 00:18:08,610 Speaker 1: all your eggs in one basket, as Nipro had, you 220 00:18:08,650 --> 00:18:14,010 Speaker 1: can really considerable gains. But this always comes with Risk. 221 00:18:14,730 --> 00:18:18,170 Speaker 1: In a recent episode of the new podcast Business History, 222 00:18:18,690 --> 00:18:22,250 Speaker 1: host Jacob Goldstein looked at the success of the American 223 00:18:22,330 --> 00:18:27,690 Speaker 1: airline Southwest. Southwest began as a budget regional carrier out 224 00:18:27,690 --> 00:18:31,530 Speaker 1: of Texas, but it's no Frill's approach soon made it 225 00:18:31,610 --> 00:18:35,770 Speaker 1: a major national airline, able to turn a profit each 226 00:18:35,850 --> 00:18:41,330 Speaker 1: and every year for forty seven years. That's an unrivaled 227 00:18:41,410 --> 00:18:45,250 Speaker 1: feat in the aviation world. One of the secrets to 228 00:18:45,290 --> 00:18:50,730 Speaker 1: this success was standardization. While other airlines might have mixed 229 00:18:50,730 --> 00:18:54,650 Speaker 1: fleets of Boeing seven for seven jumbo jets or Airbus 230 00:18:54,690 --> 00:18:59,450 Speaker 1: A three eighties or smaller short haul aircraft, Southwest has 231 00:18:59,490 --> 00:19:04,130 Speaker 1: only really ever operated the Boeing seven three seven. This 232 00:19:04,290 --> 00:19:09,490 Speaker 1: made life much easier and cheaper for Southwest. Pilot's, flight 233 00:19:09,530 --> 00:19:12,890 Speaker 1: attendants and ground crew only had to learn the foibles 234 00:19:12,890 --> 00:19:16,930 Speaker 1: of a single aircraft type. Thus training time was reduced. 235 00:19:17,610 --> 00:19:21,970 Speaker 1: When staff went circle planes broke down, substitutions were easier 236 00:19:22,010 --> 00:19:26,890 Speaker 1: and flights could continue. But in twenty eighteen came the 237 00:19:26,930 --> 00:19:31,610 Speaker 1: first of two deadly crashes involving a Boeing seven three 238 00:19:31,810 --> 00:19:36,730 Speaker 1: seven Max. Neither flight was operated by Southwest, but the 239 00:19:36,770 --> 00:19:41,970 Speaker 1: authorities grounded all aircraft of that Type seven three seven 240 00:19:42,010 --> 00:19:46,010 Speaker 1: maxes made up a third of Southwest's fleet, a crippling 241 00:19:46,090 --> 00:19:49,570 Speaker 1: blow to its operation that lost it nearly a billion 242 00:19:49,730 --> 00:19:56,330 Speaker 1: dollars in revenue. So what you gain in savings can 243 00:19:56,370 --> 00:20:03,410 Speaker 1: be lost in resilience. At Flicksborough, night Pro had discovered 244 00:20:03,450 --> 00:20:07,850 Speaker 1: the risks of building one mega factory to make caprolactum. 245 00:20:07,970 --> 00:20:11,370 Speaker 1: A single crack to react to vessel had halted production, 246 00:20:11,690 --> 00:20:15,930 Speaker 1: disappointing important customers and further delaying the day when the 247 00:20:16,010 --> 00:20:20,410 Speaker 1: troubled plant would turn a profit. It's little wander then 248 00:20:20,490 --> 00:20:25,010 Speaker 1: that a solution was hurriedly decided upon and a temporary fix, 249 00:20:25,490 --> 00:20:31,210 Speaker 1: the bodge together dog leg pipe installed. In fact, Nipro 250 00:20:31,450 --> 00:20:34,610 Speaker 1: was so desperate to get back to work that the 251 00:20:34,650 --> 00:20:38,970 Speaker 1: cause of the crack in Vessel five wasn't investigated, nor 252 00:20:39,010 --> 00:20:41,490 Speaker 1: were the other vessels checked for the signs of any 253 00:20:41,490 --> 00:20:48,450 Speaker 1: impending failure. So throughout April and May of nineteen seventy four, 254 00:20:48,930 --> 00:20:54,930 Speaker 1: cyclohexane was driven through the oxidizing system without mishap. The 255 00:20:54,970 --> 00:21:00,050 Speaker 1: temporary fix the bent pipe knocked up on site became permanent. 256 00:21:00,850 --> 00:21:05,250 Speaker 1: The temporary fix was folly, but not seeking to upgrade 257 00:21:05,290 --> 00:21:10,250 Speaker 1: it compounded that error. Look around your home, or car 258 00:21:10,690 --> 00:21:14,890 Speaker 1: or workplace. You might well see a fixture or appliance 259 00:21:14,930 --> 00:21:18,850 Speaker 1: somewhere that broke and was quickly repaired in a less 260 00:21:18,890 --> 00:21:23,450 Speaker 1: an ideal way, Perhaps afraid electrical cable was wrapped up 261 00:21:23,490 --> 00:21:28,050 Speaker 1: with adhesive tape, or an important office IT system that 262 00:21:28,170 --> 00:21:31,850 Speaker 1: fell over and was brought back online with a temporary 263 00:21:31,850 --> 00:21:38,130 Speaker 1: workaround for every complex problem, wrote the essayist h L. 264 00:21:38,250 --> 00:21:43,570 Speaker 1: Mencan there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong. 265 00:21:45,010 --> 00:21:50,050 Speaker 1: Mencan had a point. So called band aid solutions are tempting, 266 00:21:50,650 --> 00:21:52,410 Speaker 1: but in the long run can prove to be more 267 00:21:52,530 --> 00:21:55,930 Speaker 1: damaging than the problems they were meant to solve. Take 268 00:21:55,970 --> 00:21:59,290 Speaker 1: the example of patching up an IT system. You may 269 00:21:59,330 --> 00:22:01,890 Speaker 1: get everyone in the office back up on their computers, 270 00:22:02,370 --> 00:22:05,530 Speaker 1: but a rushed line of code, like a rotten brick 271 00:22:05,570 --> 00:22:09,210 Speaker 1: in a wall, can make the whole edifice less sturdy, 272 00:22:10,370 --> 00:22:14,530 Speaker 1: and a cheap fix often proves expensive in the longer term. 273 00:22:14,810 --> 00:22:18,570 Speaker 1: Bodgies and band aids make it harder to maintain an 274 00:22:18,570 --> 00:22:23,450 Speaker 1: IT network, then weeks or months down the line, a 275 00:22:23,490 --> 00:22:29,250 Speaker 1: catastrophic outage destroys your business. It's the same at home. 276 00:22:29,770 --> 00:22:33,170 Speaker 1: If you're ever tempted to wrap her freyed electric cable 277 00:22:33,210 --> 00:22:37,450 Speaker 1: with some tape. Don't here's the advice of the London 278 00:22:37,530 --> 00:22:43,450 Speaker 1: Fire Brigade. Always replace faulty leads. Is it worth risking 279 00:22:43,450 --> 00:22:45,730 Speaker 1: your loved ones and your home for the sake of 280 00:22:45,730 --> 00:22:52,650 Speaker 1: a few pounds. That's exactly the kind of advice Lodwena 281 00:22:52,730 --> 00:22:57,650 Speaker 1: Becker's father, who might have endorsed teenage Lduena and her 282 00:22:57,730 --> 00:23:01,290 Speaker 1: four brothers remember, were settling down at home on June 283 00:23:01,330 --> 00:23:04,770 Speaker 1: the first, nineteen seventy four to watch football on TV. 284 00:23:05,490 --> 00:23:08,410 Speaker 1: Their dad, Hohob, was setting off for work at the 285 00:23:08,490 --> 00:23:13,450 Speaker 1: night Prop pile, but paused because he noticed something amiss. 286 00:23:13,970 --> 00:23:18,330 Speaker 1: Loduena doesn't recall what it was, a rattley door handle perhaps, 287 00:23:18,450 --> 00:23:21,650 Speaker 1: or a loose paving stone, but she does remember her 288 00:23:21,770 --> 00:23:25,930 Speaker 1: dad stopping immediately to put it right. He was always 289 00:23:25,970 --> 00:23:29,650 Speaker 1: meticulous with keeping things in good working order, she said. 290 00:23:31,170 --> 00:23:35,650 Speaker 1: The fix completed, who began his slightly delayed drive to 291 00:23:35,690 --> 00:23:42,290 Speaker 1: Flicksborough and his plant for Who Becker's was Nightpro's general 292 00:23:42,370 --> 00:23:47,090 Speaker 1: manager and the man who had green licked that dog 293 00:23:47,210 --> 00:23:52,050 Speaker 1: legged pipe. Cautionary tales will be back in a moment. 294 00:24:07,850 --> 00:24:11,770 Speaker 1: Dennis Lawrence was also on the afternoon shift at Nypro 295 00:24:12,010 --> 00:24:17,010 Speaker 1: that sunny June Saturday. It was his term to supply refreshments, 296 00:24:17,050 --> 00:24:19,330 Speaker 1: so he'd stopped to pick up some tea and sugar. 297 00:24:20,170 --> 00:24:24,210 Speaker 1: Dennis enjoyed the camaraderie of working in the plant's control room. 298 00:24:24,490 --> 00:24:26,930 Speaker 1: At forty eight, he was older than the other lads, 299 00:24:27,050 --> 00:24:30,090 Speaker 1: who called him Granddad, but he was a popular member 300 00:24:30,090 --> 00:24:33,170 Speaker 1: of the team. Indeed, he was so avuncular that he'd 301 00:24:33,210 --> 00:24:37,010 Speaker 1: played Santa Claus at the staff party the previous Christmas. 302 00:24:37,810 --> 00:24:41,290 Speaker 1: Dennis was in a particularly good mood that Summer's day. 303 00:24:41,650 --> 00:24:45,530 Speaker 1: He'd weathered some financial difficulties, but had just made the 304 00:24:45,570 --> 00:24:49,810 Speaker 1: final repayment on his bankruptcy debts. He was in the 305 00:24:49,890 --> 00:24:54,890 Speaker 1: clear at last. The control room was the brains of 306 00:24:54,930 --> 00:24:59,450 Speaker 1: the plant, and it never stopped making Capra. Lactam was 307 00:24:59,490 --> 00:25:02,610 Speaker 1: a twenty four to seven business, but on a Saturday 308 00:25:02,650 --> 00:25:06,250 Speaker 1: there was no need for Nipro's draftsmen, clerks and cooks. 309 00:25:06,930 --> 00:25:10,530 Speaker 1: Instead of three hundred workers year, around seventy people were 310 00:25:10,570 --> 00:25:14,570 Speaker 1: working across the site. There were men in workshops, storehouses 311 00:25:14,610 --> 00:25:19,130 Speaker 1: and laboratories dotted all over the estate. Thomas Crooks, the 312 00:25:19,170 --> 00:25:22,690 Speaker 1: security guard, was on duty. A tanker truck driver had 313 00:25:22,770 --> 00:25:26,770 Speaker 1: parked up at the factory too. A day or so earlier, 314 00:25:27,250 --> 00:25:31,730 Speaker 1: several leaks had been detected in the five remaining reactor vessels. 315 00:25:32,530 --> 00:25:37,450 Speaker 1: These leaks came and went, seeming to fix themselves. No 316 00:25:37,810 --> 00:25:43,210 Speaker 1: inspection was made since the special spark proved tools needed 317 00:25:43,250 --> 00:25:47,170 Speaker 1: to work so close to the flammable cyclohexane had been 318 00:25:47,210 --> 00:25:52,570 Speaker 1: locked away and couldn't be accessed. In the control room, 319 00:25:52,730 --> 00:25:55,970 Speaker 1: Dennis Lawrence was making the tea while his colleagues were 320 00:25:56,010 --> 00:26:00,730 Speaker 1: diligently monitoring their dials and meters keeping up the constant 321 00:26:00,810 --> 00:26:04,370 Speaker 1: balancing act to maintain the right pressure and right temperature 322 00:26:04,850 --> 00:26:10,770 Speaker 1: to convert cyclohexane into caprolactum. But things were much more 323 00:26:10,810 --> 00:26:14,850 Speaker 1: relaxed in a workshop to the north. Instrument technician John 324 00:26:14,930 --> 00:26:18,090 Speaker 1: Irvin hadn't had much to do since clocking on at 325 00:26:18,170 --> 00:26:22,450 Speaker 1: three five PM was fast approaching, so he thought he'd 326 00:26:22,530 --> 00:26:26,050 Speaker 1: start on his packed lunch of sandwiches before anyone could 327 00:26:26,090 --> 00:26:31,010 Speaker 1: call to report a faulty gauge. It made scant progress 328 00:26:31,530 --> 00:26:36,490 Speaker 1: when a noise boomed across the plant, followed by a 329 00:26:36,530 --> 00:26:41,170 Speaker 1: whoosh like the approach of an express train. Through the 330 00:26:41,210 --> 00:26:44,730 Speaker 1: workshop window, John could see men running into the control 331 00:26:44,810 --> 00:26:49,410 Speaker 1: room while others left it with equal urgency. The technician 332 00:26:49,650 --> 00:26:52,810 Speaker 1: put down his sandwich and made for the door to 333 00:26:52,930 --> 00:26:58,090 Speaker 1: join those fleeing. The first boom John had heard was 334 00:26:58,130 --> 00:27:04,890 Speaker 1: the temporary pipe between reactive vessels four and six breaking open. 335 00:27:05,730 --> 00:27:09,850 Speaker 1: The woosh that was hots cyclohexane escape into the air 336 00:27:10,210 --> 00:27:16,850 Speaker 1: and forming a vast flammable cloud drifting across the chemical works. 337 00:27:17,370 --> 00:27:20,650 Speaker 1: It was only a matter of time before this cloud 338 00:27:20,730 --> 00:27:27,050 Speaker 1: encountered a spark or flame. You see the explosion before 339 00:27:27,090 --> 00:27:31,490 Speaker 1: you hear it, said John, A tsunami of flame coming 340 00:27:31,530 --> 00:27:38,250 Speaker 1: towards me at great speed. That's when I screamed, and 341 00:27:38,290 --> 00:27:41,250 Speaker 1: then there was a tremendous gust of wind, and I 342 00:27:41,330 --> 00:27:44,970 Speaker 1: remember being lifted off the ground and then something hitting 343 00:27:45,010 --> 00:27:52,290 Speaker 1: me on the head. When John regained consciousness, the workshop 344 00:27:52,330 --> 00:27:57,090 Speaker 1: had collapsed on him. The ceiling was down, the walls 345 00:27:57,330 --> 00:28:02,250 Speaker 1: punched in, windows shattered, and the contents of the room 346 00:28:02,410 --> 00:28:09,090 Speaker 1: flung around. Fortunately, some sturdy workbenches had withstood the blade 347 00:28:09,690 --> 00:28:13,250 Speaker 1: and sheltered the young technician from being crushed. They also 348 00:28:13,370 --> 00:28:17,290 Speaker 1: offered him an escape route, a tunnel to exit the building. 349 00:28:18,850 --> 00:28:24,730 Speaker 1: Thus began a hellish journey. Every one of John's fingers 350 00:28:25,290 --> 00:28:30,850 Speaker 1: had been broken, but on hands and lacerated knees, he 351 00:28:30,970 --> 00:28:36,450 Speaker 1: crossed the glass and sharp rubble. I crawled, and I 352 00:28:36,530 --> 00:28:40,970 Speaker 1: was screaming, but I couldn't even hear my own screams. 353 00:28:42,930 --> 00:28:49,170 Speaker 1: The blast had deafened John. That wasn't his most urgent problem, though, 354 00:28:49,930 --> 00:28:55,130 Speaker 1: because the explosion also left him blinded. He scrabbled madly 355 00:28:55,210 --> 00:29:00,130 Speaker 1: from room to room, eventually finding himself outside. He knew 356 00:29:00,130 --> 00:29:04,290 Speaker 1: the layout of the plant, but now stumbled sightless to 357 00:29:04,410 --> 00:29:11,850 Speaker 1: an unfamiliar landscape, repeatedly crashing into unexpected obstacles. Disoriented John 358 00:29:12,010 --> 00:29:16,250 Speaker 1: most feared plunging into an acid storage pit he knew 359 00:29:16,490 --> 00:29:21,730 Speaker 1: was somewhere along his route. Miraculously, he negotiated the catwalk 360 00:29:21,890 --> 00:29:26,610 Speaker 1: over the acid pool without tottering in. At that point, 361 00:29:27,050 --> 00:29:31,530 Speaker 1: I got hopelessly lost, said John. I stood up a 362 00:29:31,570 --> 00:29:34,890 Speaker 1: few times and waved my hands around and shouted for help. 363 00:29:36,210 --> 00:29:42,930 Speaker 1: No one answered his card. Blinded and surrounded by raging fires, 364 00:29:43,850 --> 00:29:49,490 Speaker 1: a badly wounded technician slumped down in the rubble, defeated. 365 00:29:50,450 --> 00:30:00,010 Speaker 1: I just thought I was going to die. John then 366 00:30:00,330 --> 00:30:05,090 Speaker 1: felt a hand on his shoulder. On seeing the explosion, 367 00:30:05,850 --> 00:30:09,690 Speaker 1: two off duty night pro workers had rushed the plant, 368 00:30:11,330 --> 00:30:14,930 Speaker 1: using a broken down door as a stretcher. He carried 369 00:30:15,050 --> 00:30:19,570 Speaker 1: John to safety. A volunteer ambulance crew had also hurried 370 00:30:19,610 --> 00:30:23,450 Speaker 1: to the disaster, and without anesthetic, began to stitch up 371 00:30:23,490 --> 00:30:27,690 Speaker 1: the worst of the many wounds across John's face. They 372 00:30:27,730 --> 00:30:30,770 Speaker 1: managed to clean me up as best they could, said John, 373 00:30:31,730 --> 00:30:34,690 Speaker 1: who assumed it was just the blood from these cuts 374 00:30:34,770 --> 00:30:40,010 Speaker 1: that was obscuring his vision. His injuries would, however, prove 375 00:30:40,130 --> 00:30:45,010 Speaker 1: to be life changing. Twenty two year old John Irvin 376 00:30:46,010 --> 00:30:54,290 Speaker 1: would never see again. Five miles away, the family of 377 00:30:54,370 --> 00:31:01,810 Speaker 1: Dennis Lawrence gazed dumbfounded towards the explosion. Had nypro really 378 00:31:01,850 --> 00:31:05,890 Speaker 1: gone up? People were phoning up to say, that's exactly 379 00:31:05,930 --> 00:31:10,490 Speaker 1: what had happened. Dennis's daughter, I was sure he'd be fine, 380 00:31:11,290 --> 00:31:17,970 Speaker 1: but missus Lawrence had no illusions. Your dad isn't coming back, 381 00:31:19,010 --> 00:31:24,170 Speaker 1: she said, calmly, as silence descended on the family home. 382 00:31:25,970 --> 00:31:33,570 Speaker 1: She was right, and Dennis wasn't the only fatality. Thomas Crooks, 383 00:31:33,610 --> 00:31:38,930 Speaker 1: the security guard, was dead. The visiting tanker driver dead too. 384 00:31:39,970 --> 00:31:46,650 Speaker 1: Across the plant, twenty eight people had perished. The toll 385 00:31:46,850 --> 00:31:50,010 Speaker 1: was heaviest in the control room, where Dennis had worked. 386 00:31:50,810 --> 00:31:55,050 Speaker 1: There were eighteen people in there, none of them survived 387 00:31:56,410 --> 00:31:59,290 Speaker 1: and lost with them were all the records of what 388 00:31:59,650 --> 00:32:04,930 Speaker 1: happened leading up to the blast. It was estimated that 389 00:32:04,970 --> 00:32:08,970 Speaker 1: the cyclo hexayne ignited with the force of around their 390 00:32:09,570 --> 00:32:15,530 Speaker 1: tons of TNT, easily the biggest peacetime explosion in British history. 391 00:32:16,530 --> 00:32:19,650 Speaker 1: It's a miracle, then, that no one beyond the factory 392 00:32:19,690 --> 00:32:26,130 Speaker 1: gates was killed. When farmer Gordon Atkinson arrived home close 393 00:32:26,170 --> 00:32:30,890 Speaker 1: to the plant, he found his mother shaken, but thankfully alive. 394 00:32:32,490 --> 00:32:36,450 Speaker 1: It was like a ghost village, he said. There were 395 00:32:36,570 --> 00:32:41,290 Speaker 1: curtains blowing out of broken windows, roofs lifted and set 396 00:32:41,370 --> 00:32:46,490 Speaker 1: back wrong, fire raged on at night, pro for ten 397 00:32:46,890 --> 00:32:52,250 Speaker 1: full days, and specialist coal mine rescue teams were drafted 398 00:32:52,290 --> 00:32:56,650 Speaker 1: in to recover the buried dead. The factory workers helped 399 00:32:56,650 --> 00:32:59,930 Speaker 1: in this grim task, but were sent away for a 400 00:32:59,970 --> 00:33:03,530 Speaker 1: cup of tea whenever the corpse of a colleague was uncovered. 401 00:33:04,730 --> 00:33:09,530 Speaker 1: Nobody got counseling in those days, said one micro employee. 402 00:33:09,650 --> 00:33:11,610 Speaker 1: You just had to grin and bear it and get on, 403 00:33:12,050 --> 00:33:21,410 Speaker 1: and that's what we did. Questions immediately arose about the 404 00:33:21,450 --> 00:33:27,090 Speaker 1: wisdom of Nypro building a cap prolactum megaplant, stockpiling such 405 00:33:27,250 --> 00:33:31,930 Speaker 1: vast quantities of chemicals on a single site undoubtedly resulted 406 00:33:31,930 --> 00:33:36,650 Speaker 1: in the huge scale of the explosion. The shockwaves of 407 00:33:36,690 --> 00:33:41,530 Speaker 1: the disaster spread far beyond rural Lincolnshire. With its sole 408 00:33:41,850 --> 00:33:46,930 Speaker 1: caprolactum maker reduced to rubble, the already shaky UK economy 409 00:33:47,130 --> 00:33:51,970 Speaker 1: tottered too. Vast sums were wiped off the stock market 410 00:33:52,370 --> 00:33:56,370 Speaker 1: as chemical companies, textile weavers and carpet makers faced a 411 00:33:56,450 --> 00:33:59,770 Speaker 1: draft of raw materials. There was even a run on 412 00:33:59,890 --> 00:34:04,530 Speaker 1: nylon stockings in the shops as consumers panic boart ahead 413 00:34:04,570 --> 00:34:11,210 Speaker 1: of looming shortages and expected price rises. Hoobe Becker's, the 414 00:34:11,330 --> 00:34:15,810 Speaker 1: general manager at Nipro, had missed the explosion by a 415 00:34:15,850 --> 00:34:19,210 Speaker 1: few minutes thanks to a decision to stop for a 416 00:34:19,210 --> 00:34:23,250 Speaker 1: little bit of DIY before leaving home. He now set 417 00:34:23,290 --> 00:34:27,770 Speaker 1: about defending the safety culture at his plant, likening it 418 00:34:27,850 --> 00:34:33,210 Speaker 1: to the stringent procedures observed at say, a nuclear power plant. 419 00:34:34,370 --> 00:34:38,570 Speaker 1: When a court of inquiry was convened, Hoobe gave detailed 420 00:34:38,570 --> 00:34:42,570 Speaker 1: evidence and supplied copious notes about the decision to replace 421 00:34:42,690 --> 00:34:46,810 Speaker 1: reactor Vessel five with a temporary pipe. He argued that 422 00:34:46,890 --> 00:34:54,930 Speaker 1: all necessary protocols had been followed. The inquiry, though hampered 423 00:34:54,970 --> 00:34:58,450 Speaker 1: by the total destruction of data from the control room 424 00:34:59,010 --> 00:35:02,370 Speaker 1: concluded that there had been a litany of errors in 425 00:35:02,410 --> 00:35:10,170 Speaker 1: the design, construction and installation of that pipe. The integrity 426 00:35:10,370 --> 00:35:14,650 Speaker 1: of a well designed and constructed plant was thereby destroyed. 427 00:35:15,130 --> 00:35:19,930 Speaker 1: Redit's report. In other words, a cheap band aid solution 428 00:35:20,650 --> 00:35:26,410 Speaker 1: had devastated a multi million pound operation, claiming many lives 429 00:35:26,450 --> 00:35:31,850 Speaker 1: in the process. No one faced prosecution for the blast. 430 00:35:32,570 --> 00:35:37,090 Speaker 1: Health and safety legislation was still being debated in Britain's Parliament, 431 00:35:37,970 --> 00:35:41,330 Speaker 1: but the night pro blast informed the formulation of these 432 00:35:41,370 --> 00:35:45,970 Speaker 1: new laws. Henceforth, no one could install such a flimsy 433 00:35:46,130 --> 00:35:54,130 Speaker 1: pipe and still claim they'd followed the rules. The Flicksburgh 434 00:35:54,170 --> 00:35:58,770 Speaker 1: plant was rebuilt, this time with greater attention to safety 435 00:35:58,810 --> 00:36:02,890 Speaker 1: and survivability. The control room, for example, would be placed 436 00:36:03,170 --> 00:36:07,450 Speaker 1: further from danger and built to withstand any future explosion. 437 00:36:08,890 --> 00:36:14,090 Speaker 1: The new boss, same as the old boss, Hooper Becker's, 438 00:36:14,250 --> 00:36:17,970 Speaker 1: stayed on as the general manager, and his family remained 439 00:36:18,010 --> 00:36:22,690 Speaker 1: in the area. His teenage daughter, Luduena, enrolled in the 440 00:36:22,770 --> 00:36:27,250 Speaker 1: local college. Walking into the common room, she noticed another 441 00:36:27,330 --> 00:36:31,050 Speaker 1: student in a T shirt. One of his arms was 442 00:36:31,130 --> 00:36:36,010 Speaker 1: extremely scarred. She remembers from his hand right up to 443 00:36:36,050 --> 00:36:41,730 Speaker 1: the sleeve. Ludweena asked the boy what had happened. His 444 00:36:41,850 --> 00:36:47,970 Speaker 1: reply was simple and direct. Your dad's factory did that. 445 00:36:57,650 --> 00:37:00,370 Speaker 1: For a full list of our sources, see the show 446 00:37:00,410 --> 00:37:09,650 Speaker 1: notes at Timharford dot com. Cautionary Tales is written by 447 00:37:09,650 --> 00:37:13,970 Speaker 1: me Tim Harford with Andrew Wright, Alice Fines, and Ryan Dilly. 448 00:37:14,850 --> 00:37:18,730 Speaker 1: It's produced by Georgia Mills and Marilyn Rust. The sound 449 00:37:18,770 --> 00:37:21,850 Speaker 1: design and original music are the work of Pascal Wise 450 00:37:23,090 --> 00:37:27,010 Speaker 1: bend A. Dafh Haffrey edited the scripts. The show also 451 00:37:27,090 --> 00:37:29,970 Speaker 1: wouldn't have been possible without the work of Jacob Weisberg, 452 00:37:30,210 --> 00:37:36,370 Speaker 1: Greta Cohne, Eric Sandler, Carrie Brody, Christina Sullivan, Kira Posey, 453 00:37:36,890 --> 00:37:41,850 Speaker 1: and Owen Miller. Cautionary Tales is a production of Pushkin Industries. 454 00:37:42,250 --> 00:37:45,770 Speaker 1: If you like the show, please remember to share, rate, 455 00:37:45,970 --> 00:37:48,890 Speaker 1: and review. It really does make a difference to us, 456 00:37:49,250 --> 00:37:52,530 Speaker 1: and if you want to hear it, add free and 457 00:37:52,610 --> 00:37:57,490 Speaker 1: receive a bonus audio episode, video episode, and members only 458 00:37:57,530 --> 00:38:01,930 Speaker 1: newsletter every month. Why not showIn the Cautionary Club. 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