By Reg AdamsUnexpected production outages following serious accidents or natural disasters usually cause the affected producer to declare force majeure, disrupting local regional supply patterns. At the same time, outages affecting one supplier offer windfall opportunities for competitors to seize business from customers who have been suddenly deprived of a vital product. But what happens when the outage is over and the affected plant is back in action?When compared against other factories – though not when compared against farms, building-sites or mines and quarries – chemical plants generally notch up a high score (of course, always an unacceptably high score) for serious accidents per thousand workers employed. At a typical chemical plant, substantial volumes of toxic and corrosive fluids are circulating through pipes and reaction vessels, so the high accident risk is endemic. Most accidents are due to equipment failure, human error or a lack of rigour in following...