Hazard Pay

It's been about two and a half weeks since I've written anything, it's been really busy. I've been working 12.5-13.5 hours per day, 7 days a week. The project is behind schedule, over budget and there have been some safety issues and now I expect to be here until the end of the month.
I was sick all last weekend, luckily we were given those days off at the last minute on Friday. I had the worst cold in years, I was on the couch from noon on Friday until Sunday night just sneezing and coughing like crazy. I watched about 15 movies and a couple UFC fights while I was down. I'm feeling a lot better now and I'm back at work.
I arrived at work on Monday to find out that there was an "explosion" at the refinery on Saturday, about 20 feet from where our crew's equipment is set up. There hasn't been a lot of talk about it and there's nothing in the news about it but the people that were here on Saturday definitely experienced it. Our employees that were working that day said that it was the loudest boom they had ever heard and they returned to find the viewing portholes in the furnace blown open with the interior insulation all over the ground and the concussion was felt all over the refinery.
Refinery workers are very sensitive to any loud noises in the plant due to a history of explosions and deaths in the industry in the 80's and 90's. The last major refinery disaster that changed the industry was the BP Texas City explosion in 2005 which killed 15 people. After that disaster, refineries began using Blast Resistant Modules or "BRMs" for offices that were placed in the "blast zone", or within a certain distance of an operating process unit. These are designed to protect occupants in the case of an incident like the Texas City explosion. Hopefully I never have to experience whether they work or not.
All of us working in the refinery know that it's a potentially dangerous job but the money is what keeps us coming back. Most refinery workers know someone who has been seriously injured or killed while working here. The petrochemical industry has made a lot of changes in the last 10 years but there is a long way to go before it can be considered a safe industry. Then again, will working with flammable liquids under pressure and large steel equipment that weighs thousands of pounds ever be truly safe?