Standards Too Weak to Prevent Chemical Plant Blast After Harvey, Probe Finds

U.S. Chemical Safety Board says Arkema didn’t follow flooding standards, but rules wouldn’t have prevented disaster in Texas

HOUSTON—Safety plans fell short of industry standards at a chemical plant that caught fire and exploded following Hurricane Harvey last year, but the standards were probably too weak to prevent the crisis anyway, a U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board probe has found.

Workers at the Arkema SA plant in Crosby, Texas, had a disaster plan in place before the flooding that hit the city last August, but it didn’t anticipate the 6 feet of floodwater that hit the facility, the independent safety board concluded in...