BP Texas City Refinery has History of Incidents
BP plant has costly history of safety incidents that predates BP's purchase of the plant. Folks seem to get killed there on a regular basis, fires aren't all that unusual, and explosions aren't so surprising. This latest incident is newsworthy only because of the scale.
The explosion Wednesday at the BP oil refinery in Texas City and another in March 2004 are among a long history of incendiary incidents, some deadly, that have cost the facility's owners millions of dollars in fines and lawsuits.
BP's Texas City refinery and its parent company, BP North America Inc., have been fined more than $172,000 by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration for safety incidents — including the deaths of two workers — that happened in the last 12 months.
On March 4, BP North America Inc. was fined $109,500 for safety violations following a Sept. 2 accident that killed two Texas City workers.
The two employees and a third man who survived were burned when pressurized, superheated water was released from a 12-inch check valve.
OSHA said it fined the company for one alleged willful violation and seven alleged serious violations associated with the incident following an inspection by the agency's Houston office. The alleged willful violation was issued for failing to relieve trapped pressure within a pipe.
"BP North America has years of experience in handling hazardous materials," said Houston South Area Director Charles E. Williams of the incident. "If OSHA standards had been followed, this tragic loss of life might have been avoided."
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