Environmental Analyst at Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
January 15, 1919 - the #Boston Molasses Disaster. The Purity Distilling Company's tank, holding 2.3 million gallons (13,000 tons) of molasses, burst and released a wave that traveled at 35 miles an hour through the north end of the city, destroying several buildings and an elevated rail line, killing 21 people, and injuring 150. From the inquest report by Judge Wilfred Bolster: “The chief blame rests upon the public itself. […] This single accident has cost more in material damage alone than all of the supposed economics in the building department. Laws are cheap of passage, costly of enforcement. They do not execute themselves. A public which, with one eye on the tax rate, provides itself with an administrative equipment 50 percent qualified, has no right to complain that it does not get a 100 percent product—and so far as it accepts political influence as the equivalent of scientific positions which demand such attainment as a high degree, so long it must expect breakdowns in its machinery.” #publichealth #emergencypreparedness #emergencyresponse #disaster #chemicalsafety #engineering #environment
Elizabeth Fuller
7mo
I read a book about this a few years ago. What a disaster!
Guy Lanza
7mo
The evil of sugar cast in a different light.
Environmental Management and Compliance
7mo"A public which, with one eye on the tax rate, provides itself with an administrative equipment 50 percent qualified, has no right to complain that it does not get a 100 percent product..." Still true today