The study was commissioned by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) following an October 1989 explosion at a Phillips 66 plastics plant in Pasadena, Texas, that killed 23 workers and injured another 232. The accident involved an outside contracting firm that had experienced a fatality at the same site earlier in the year. These two incidents produced a Congressional hearing at which union representatives argued that these were not merely isolated incidents but part of a growing problem associated with the increased use of contract workers who lacked adequate training and experience to work safely in petrochemical plants. In response to this controversy, OSHA indicated it would conduct a study to address the controversies raised by these incidents. OSHA specified that the study would collect data on the following issues:
The infamous “Process Safety Contractor Safety Study” by the John Gray Institute
