In the speech he gave at yesterday’s memorial in Waco Texas for the victims of last week’s deadly fertilizer plant explosion, President Barack Obama made no mention of the role that regulatory oversight – or lack thereof – may have played in the tragedy.

While investigators in West, Texas, sift through the rubble of a fertilizer plant that exploded last week, killing 15 people, safety advocates are calling for stricter government oversight of potentially hazardous sites like that one. The operator of the plant, West Fertilizer Co., did file an emergency response plan update in 2011 with the EPA listing anhydrous ammonia on site, but did not indicate there was a risk of fire or explosion at the plant.

The Associated Press is reporting that officials at the Bangladesh garment factory that collapsed on Tuesday, killing at least 238 people, ignored orders to evacuate the building prior to the disaster.

The spectacle of frightened elderly nursing home patients being rescued from debris following last week’s explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant had a jarring affect on many Americans. So did photos of debris where approximately 80 homes once stood, and pictures of an apartment complex that had its windows blasted out by the explosion.

An estimated 123 people are dead after the collapse of a Bangladesh garment factory building Wednesday morning, news sources are reporting. The death toll could rise; many more may be trapped in the rubble.

An occupational safety organization says last week’s deadly fertilizer plant explosion in Texas is the result of that state’s anti-regulatory environment. The explosion at the West Fertilizer Company killed 14 people and injured many more.

The results of a landmark study on high-rise fires and the best ways to battle them were released at the 2013 Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Conference in Phoenix, Ariz. last week, prompting many fire departments throughout the United States to re-examine the ways they deal with fires in tall buildings.

There have been countless articles and guides that outline all the key components to a successful lockout/tagout program. However, it goes beyond just purchasing padlocks, tags, and lockout devices. Even with a solid written plan, the ultimate success depends on your employees properly applying the lockout hardware according to your established procedures.

The West Fertilizer plant that was the site of last week’s devastating explosion and loss of life had at least 50,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia onsite -- yet the site’s operators told the EPA and public safety officials that it posed no risk of fire or explosion, according to the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH).

The West Fertilizer Company facility that exploded in a deadly blast last week had not been inspected by OSHA in at least 10 years, according to advocacy group Public Citizen, which says too many similar facilities operate “with very little oversight” from regulatory agencies.