A new report from the US EPA and OSHA indicates that the internal failure and blowout of a check valve was to blame for a chemicals explosion at Shell Chemical’s plant at Deer Park, TX in 1997. This caused a flammable gas leak and vapour cloud which ignited. A copy of the report can be found athttp://www.epa.gov/ceppo/acchis.html. This includes recommendations on preventing such an accident from occurring in the future.