SureSight · Case Studies

When inspection fails

Six recent incidents, drawn from official investigations and public reporting. In each one, the safeguard that failed was not a design code or a material spec — it was the gap between an inspection on paper and what actually happened in the field. Each case study ends with how SureSight closes that specific gap.

The Martinez oil refinery in California, seen at dusk
Refining · USA · 2025

The wrong flange: the Martinez refinery fire

A contract crew opened Flange 4 instead of Flange 3 on a 600°F hot-oil system. Three-day fire, ~$924M in damage. Nothing at the point of work verified which flange was being opened.

POINT-OF-WORK VERIFICATION · PERMIT-TO-WORK
The failed white liquor storage tank at the Longview facility, its steel shell buckled and collapsed
Pulp & Paper · USA · 2026

A finding without follow-through: the Longview tank failure

An inspection called the tank "not fit for continued service" ten months before it failed, killing 11. The gap wasn't detection — it was follow-through.

CLOSED-LOOP FINDINGS · INTERIM MONITORING
A worker guides a steel trench protection box into an open excavation
Construction · USA · 2023–2025

The daily inspection that didn't happen: a $1.2M repeat

After a trench fatality and a federal settlement, a random OSHA inspection found the same failures again — including no daily excavation inspections.

VERIFIED DAILY INSPECTIONS · AUDIT-READY RECORDS
A welder in protective gear works inside a cramped, enclosed steel compartment
Marine & Offshore · Singapore · 2026

Alone in the pipe: a confined-space fatality at Tuas

A 24-year-old welder was found unconscious inside a 71cm pipe. Every pre-entry control is observable — which means every one is verifiable.

PRE-ENTRY VERIFICATION · SUBCONTRACTOR COVERAGE
Panoramic view of Jurong Port, Singapore, lined with cranes and cargo wharves
Construction · Singapore · 2026

Five storeys above the drop zone: the Jurong Port formwork collapse

Formwork being repositioned fell from the fifth storey onto an occupied lorry. Exclusion zones are only real while they're empty — and watched.

PRE-LIFT CHECKS · DROP-ZONE MONITORING
A ruptured segment of buried gas pipeline exposed in its trench during a failure investigation
Gas Transmission · Malaysia · 2025

The pipeline that met every spec: Putra Heights

No negligence, no sabotage — just 25 years of soil subsidence and 15.9 cm of deflection nobody could prove anyone had looked for. Now 2,680 km of pipeline needs verified review.

VERIFIED PATROLS · TREND EVIDENCE