A Look Back at the Events of 2004

By ED DEVLIN, CBCP

Now that we are in a new year, let’s look at some of the interesting events that occurred in 2004:
Storms
This was the year of the storm. Hurricane Alex grazed North Carolina’s Outer Banks with 100 mph winds and rain. Tropical Storm Bonnie hit the Florida Panhandle with winds of 50 mph and heavy rainfall for Florida and southern Georgia. Hurricane Charlie struck southwest Florida with steady winds of 145 mph. It became the second costliest hurricane in U.S. history, causing an estimated $7.4 billion in insured losses. Hurricane Frances made landfall at Sewalls Point, Fla., with winds of 104 mph. It moved west across the state into the Gulf of Mexico, where it moved north and struck the Florida Panhandle. Tropical Storm Gaston came on shore in South Carolina with wind gusts up to 82 mph. The storm moved north, where it dropped 14 inches of rain in eight hours in Richmond, Va., flooding a part of the capital city’s downtown area. Tropical Storm Hermine lost strength as it came ashore at New Bedford, Mass., with winds of 40 mph. Hurricane Ivan came ashore at Gulf Shores, Ala., with winds of 130 mph. Hurricane Jeanne made landfall at Hutchinson Island, Fla., with winds of 120 mph, near where Hurricane Frances came ashore on Sept. 5. Osceola County officials said they received 20 inches of rain as the storm passed, inundating areas that were already flooded from previous storms.
Fires
On Jan. 26, a fire broke out in a five-story Comfort Inn motel in Greenville, S.C., while guests were asleep, killing six and forcing others to leap from windows or climb down bed sheets to safety. The Comfort Inn had standpipes and wall-mounted hoses in the hallways and stairwells, but none had been activated, and no fire extinguishers were used before emergency crews arrived. While the building was not required to have sprinklers, Wade Hampton Fire Chief Gary Downey told local reporters, “If there had been sprinkler systems in the hallways, probably the fatalities and injuries would not have been near what they were.”
On April 23, a series of explosions rocked the Formosa Plastics plant in Illinois, killing four people and injuring eight others. About 60 percent of the production area was destroyed. Four days later, officials said the plant would be rebuilt; and the 136 employees will continue to be paid. On Oct. 24, federal investigators reportedly found dozens of safety violations at the plastics factory, from defective equipment to poor worker training. OSHA imposed $361,000 in fines against the company.
On Nov. 3, a spectacular fire damaged the historic section of the Prince George’s County Courthouse in Maryland. A courthouse has operated on the site since 1720. The building was expanded at least four times in the past 284 years. The section that was damaged, the Duvall Wing, was built in 1881. More than 100 firefighters battled the blaze for nearly two hours and were successful in stopping the flames from moving beyond the series of corridors that joined the 19th century section of the courthouse and the modern wing. The four-alarm fire began on the roof around 8:30 a.m. A $27 million renovation project was underway. The building’s hose taps and sprinklers had been disconnected during the renovations. Old beams, wooden flooring and construction materials provided ample fuel. Wind gusts of 25 mph helped spread the flames quickly. Could the cause of the fire be the result of the renovations?
Product Problems
In January of 2004, Bayer AG said it had reached more than 2,000 settlements related to the withdrawal of Lipobay, a cholesterol-lowering drug. It paid out $782 million without admitting guilt. Lipobay, marketed as Baycol in the U.S., was linked to a rare muscle wasting syndrome and about 100 patient deaths. Bayer reportedly pulled Lipobay off the market in 2001 after it was linked to those deaths.
In February of 2004, Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceutica unit said it would pay $69.5 million to settle lawsuits stemming from Propulsid. Propulsid was pulled off shelves in 2000 after the FDA warned it could cause irregular heartbeats and sudden death. In addition, Janssen is paying up to $37.5 million for administrative and legal fees for the plaintiffs’ committee, which represents about 4,000 people, of which 300 allegedly died from the use of the drug.
On Sept. 9, 2004, Pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. announced it would withdraw its painkiller Vioxx from the market because of safety concerns. Merck is reportedly bracing for an onslaught of lawsuits.
2003 Updates
A recent article in the Philadelphia Inquirer indicated that building design flaws were a key factor in the January 2003 explosion of a West Pharmaceutical Services Inc.’s rubber parts factory in Kinston, N.C. The explosion also killed six workers. The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board issued a final report, saying the blast could have been avoided if West had complied with a national fire code’s controls on combustible dust for industrial plants.
A final report was also issued after the investigation of the fire that damaged the Cook County Administration Building on Oct. 17, 2003, and resulted in the deaths of six people. An Illinois agency that investigated the fire cited the Chicago Fire Department for alleged safety and fire-code violations. The Department of Labor issued 16 citations over the fire in the Cook County Administration Building. The Chicago fire commissioner and the president of the Cook County Board disputed the allegations.

Ed Devlin, CBCP, has provided business recovery planning consulting services since 1973 when he co-founded Devlin Associates. Since then, Devlin has assisted more than 300 companies in the writing of their business recovery plans and has made more than 800 seminars and presentations worldwide.

©Copyright 2004 Systems Support Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without the express written permission of System Support Inc. is prohibited.

«BACK to the Articles Index