{"id":567,"date":"2013-08-16T16:01:51","date_gmt":"2013-08-16T14:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.wika.com\/us\/\/?p=567"},"modified":"2025-11-12T15:47:58","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T20:47:58","slug":"overlooked-instrumentation-lead-safety-incidents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wika.com\/us\/knowhow\/overlooked-instrumentation-lead-safety-incidents\/","title":{"rendered":"Overlooked Instrumentation Can Lead to Safety Incidents"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The devil truly <i>is <\/i>in the details. Level indicators and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wika.com\/en-us\/lp_temperature_measurement.WIKA\" rel=\"external\" target=\"_blank\">temperature measurement<\/a> devices are classic examples of the kind of small\u2014but important\u2014instrumentation that people in the oil and gas industry must be ever vigilant about. Instruments must provide accurate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wika.com\/en-us\/diaphragm_seals.WIKA?36417=36417_1\" rel=\"external\" target=\"_blank\">level measurement<\/a> and temperature measurement readings to ensure plant safety and operations. <\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>You have to throw these considerations into the mix:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Where the instruments are installed<\/li>\n<li>How often they are checked and by whom<\/li>\n<li>Their current condition<\/li>\n<li>Their service history<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Losing sight of any of these can be costly to your operation, even downright disastrous. The 2005 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.refinerlink.com\/blog\/Dissecting_BP_Texas_City_8_Years_Later\/\" rel=\"external\" target=\"_blank\">refinery explosion<\/a> in Texas City, Texas, is a case in point of what can go wrong when faulty instruments provide inaccurate liquid level measurement and temperature measurement, or, worse, when people fail to follow safety protocols. Liquid levels and their temperatures are of critical importance in the oil and gas industry because such substances are potentially combustible. Without proper readings, there is no warning that issues are building \u2013 issues that can lead to explosions and fires. That\u2019s what happened in Texas City, a disaster that killed 15 people and cost billions of dollars. Among the numerous culprits that led up to the disaster were poorly functioning instruments, overfilling of the refinery\u2019s splitter tower by as much as 40%, and the failure of the splitter\u2019s high-level measurement indicators. What\u2019s more, this was a brand-new process and management did not clear the area of nonessential personnel before firing up the splitter.<\/p>\n<p>Those who died were working inside an adjacent trailer\u2014a dangerous place to be in an explosion. Had the systems been working properly, a level-measurement indicator would have signaled that the splitter had exceeded its safe capacity and an alarm would have gone off. Later, accurate temperature measurement instrumentation would have sounded an alarm that the liquid had overheated, the operation needed to be shut down, and, moreover, that anyone who didn\u2019t need to be there should leave, pronto. Inaccurate pressure gauge readings were the culprit on the more recent Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in April 2010.<\/p>\n<p>When gauges deep below the sea provided conflicting readings on well pressure, the people in charge made the wrong decision and a disaster of fatal and epic proportions ensued. In March 2013, a failed pressure gauge at a gas-processing plant in Parachute, Colorado, caused a spill. This threatened the safety of the area\u2019s groundwater and nearby Parachute Creek, which flows into the Colorado River. Groundwater benzene levels reached 1,000 times in excess of state health standards. If all this sounds a bit overwhelming, help is available. Through WIKA\u2019s FAST (Full Audit Service Team), you can tap the company\u2019s more than 60 years of expertise in instrumentation. WIKA\u2019s FAST engineers will audit your gauges, identifying which ones are working, which are not, and provide recommendations to help bring you into compliance with your specifications and industry best practices. They can also help you to standardize your instrumentation and reduce the number of SKUs on your stockroom shelves. And that\u2019s just for starters. Call them today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The devil truly is in the details. Level indicators and temperature measurement devices are classic examples of the kind of small\u2014but important\u2014instrumentation that people in the oil and gas industry must be ever vigilant about. Instruments must provide accurate level measurement and temperature measurement readings to ensure plant safety and operations. You have to throw [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":9129,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[436,437],"class_list":["post-567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-knowhow","tag-level-measurement","tag-temperature-measurement"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Overlooked Instrumentation Can Lead to Safety Incidents - WIKA blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The devil truly is in the details. Level indicators and temperature measurement devices are classic examples of the kind of small\u2014but important\u2014instrumentation that people in the oil and gas industry must be ever vigilant about.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.wika.com\/us\/knowhow\/overlooked-instrumentation-lead-safety-incidents\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Overlooked Instrumentation Can Lead to Safety Incidents - WIKA blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The devil truly is in the details. Level indicators and temperature measurement devices are classic examples of the kind of small\u2014but important\u2014instrumentation that people in the oil and gas industry must be ever vigilant about.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.wika.com\/us\/knowhow\/overlooked-instrumentation-lead-safety-incidents\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"WIKA blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.wika.com\/us\/files\/2013\/08\/red_arrow.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"838\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"438\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Robert Torgerson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Robert Torgerson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.wika.com\/us\/knowhow\/overlooked-instrumentation-lead-safety-incidents\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.wika.com\/us\/knowhow\/overlooked-instrumentation-lead-safety-incidents\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Robert Torgerson\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.wika.com\/us\/#\/schema\/person\/1a0b56b9c563f8b638494f482ea9eff2\"},\"headline\":\"Overlooked Instrumentation Can Lead to Safety Incidents\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-08-16T14:01:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-12T20:47:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.wika.com\/us\/knowhow\/overlooked-instrumentation-lead-safety-incidents\/\"},\"wordCount\":520,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.wika.com\/us\/knowhow\/overlooked-instrumentation-lead-safety-incidents\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.wika.com\/us\/files\/2013\/08\/red_arrow.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Level Measurement\",\"temperature measurement\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Know-how\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.wika.com\/us\/knowhow\/overlooked-instrumentation-lead-safety-incidents\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.wika.com\/us\/knowhow\/overlooked-instrumentation-lead-safety-incidents\/\",\"name\":\"Overlooked Instrumentation Can Lead to Safety Incidents - WIKA blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.wika.com\/us\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.wika.com\/us\/knowhow\/overlooked-instrumentation-lead-safety-incidents\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.wika.com\/us\/knowhow\/overlooked-instrumentation-lead-safety-incidents\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.wika.com\/us\/files\/2013\/08\/red_arrow.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-08-16T14:01:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-12T20:47:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.wika.com\/us\/#\/schema\/person\/1a0b56b9c563f8b638494f482ea9eff2\"},\"description\":\"The devil truly is in the details. 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