OSHA Not Doing Enough to Prevent Another Texas City Explosion, Witnesses Say

Thursday, March 22, 2007

WASHINGTON, DC -- Risks of injury and death remain unnecessarily high for workers in oil refineries and chemical facilities because of lax enforcement of worker safety standards by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, witnesses told the House Education and Labor Committee today. 

The enforcement failures persist even two years after an explosion at a BP refinery in Texas City, Texas, killed 15 workers in 2005, the worst industrial accident since 1990. A Chemical Safety Board report released this week blamed the March 23, 2005 blast on a combination of a systemic failures at BP and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's failed enforcement of workplace safety standards.

At today's hearing, witnesses criticized OSHA for failing to inspect refineries frequently enough to identify "process safety" problems that would likely lead to disaster. At the Texas City refinery, the disaster was preceded by clear warning signs, including previous fires, injuries and fatalities. In addition, OSHA did not perform a comprehensive planned inspection at a single refinery in the entire country between 1995 and 2005.

"The BP explosion was the biggest workplace disaster in the last 18 years, yet it received very little Congressional scrutiny until today. Even more upsetting is that two years after this catastrophe, we're still seeing a disturbing pattern of major fires and explosions in U.S. refineries," said Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee.  "Protecting the safety of refinery and chemical workers is reason enough to get this right. But the safety of our refineries and chemical facilities also has broader implications for the communities surrounding these plants.  The disaster at BP Texas testifies to the steep price we pay as Americans for not enforcing the nation's laws that are supposed to protect working men and women in this country."

"For me and many others, tomorrow will be a solemn day in Texas City, Texas, as it marks the second anniversary of that horrible blast that ripped apart my life and the lives of so many others," said Eva Rowe, whose mother and father were both killed in the blast. "The true tragedy is that it was a needless and completely avoidable explosion." 

Carolyn W. Merritt, chairman and CEO of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board said, "Our investigation found numerous requirements of [OSHA's Process Safety Management standard] were not being effectively performed in Texas City - such as incident investigation, preventative maintenance, management of changes, and hazard analysis.  Required safety studies were overlooked for years.  For example, a required relief valve study that, if done, could have helped prevent the accident was 13 years overdue on the day of the explosion ... Federal regulators did not conduct any comprehensive, planned process safety inspections at the Texas City Refinery.  In fact, our investigation found that in the ten years from 1995 to 2005, federal OSHA only conducted nine such inspections anywhere in the country, and none in the refining sector."

Kim Nibarger, health and safety specialist for the United Steelworkers said, "Unfortunately it takes a major event like the one we saw in Texas City for these incidents to get any real notice.  In fact, prior to the BP explosion, there was one worker fatality every 16 months for 30 years at the Texas City facility."

Frank L. "Skip": Bowman, retired admiral and member of the BP refineries independent safety review panel, highlighted the findings of their report: "BP mistakenly interpreted improving personal injury rates as an indication of acceptable process safety performance at the U.S. refineries.  BP's reliance on this data, combined with an inadequate process safety understanding, created a false sense of confidence that it was properly addressing process safety risks."

Miller said the Committee would hold additional hearings on OSHA and would consider the need for legislation.

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