BP told to raise refinery safety levels

[seafan]

Source: Financial Times

BP has yet to sufficiently raise safety standards at its US refineries five years after a fatal accident at a Texas installation, according to an independent expert monitoring the energy company's progress.
Duane Wilson said in a report seen by the Financial Times that BP must address potentially risky levels of overtime, swiftly respond to issues raised in safety audits and be more selfcritical of its safety culture.

.....

The panel investigated the safety culture across BP's five US refineries on the urgent recommendation of the US Chemical Safety Board (CSB), following an explosion at BP's Texas City refinery that killed 15 and injured at least 170 in the country's' biggest industrial accident in a decade. Mr Wilson, a retired refining executive for ConocoPhillips, was on the panel.

.....

The CSB, which performed a two-year investigation into the disaster, said operators had worked 29 or more consecutive 12-hours shifts prior to the 2005 disaster and were likely to have been fatigued when the accident occurred. Some process safety audit action items have due dates that appear too long, given the apparent risks associated with them, Mr Wilson said, noting 11 per cent had their due dates extended in 2009. "Some of these extensions were for action items that addressed what appear to be relatively high-risk findings,'' he said.

.....

Two accidents at one refinery in 2009, he noted, involved the same piece of equipment.

Read more: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f473dbee-71ca-11df-8eec-00144feabdc0.html

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Why is BP still running this horror show?


The actions of BP over many years show that the Deepwater Horizon disaster is not an isolated incident.


It is nothing short of ecoterrorism, enabled by decades of deliberate deregulation, bribing of pliable politicians and mobilizing armies of lobbyists and public relations giants to push Big Oil's agenda.



It must end now.

[pattmarty]

1. The quick response to these "criminals" is to nationalize BP America.............

............This will do two things; first the US government will own and control what drilling and business ventures will go on from that point forward and secondly it will send a HUGE warning to other corporate criminal enterprises what could happen if they don't start "policing" themselves. I know it won't happen, but in some other countries it would be a "done deal" already instead of watching fucking video on TV and "praying". Only in America.

[Lagomorph]

2. What we need are....

...some new, state of the art refineries. We're just putting lipstick on a pig with these old ones.

We could build one, that required all state of the art, US made infrastructure, then tear one down to the foundations and build new in it's place.

[hayu_lol]

3. Under Gov. Shrub, the oil bidness in Texas was told...

they were to police themselves: refineries, product storage, and all the rest of this business.

"Heck of a job, DUMYA."

[Lagomorph]

4. The more I read....

the fuzzier the picture gets.

Where did you read that and in what context?

[kentauros]

5. Probably from reading either The Houston Press or the Texas Observer.

Both news sources have covered the issue, during and after Gov. Bush's reign. Here are a few old and current stories I found in The Houston Press:

Smoke and Mirrors (from 10-26-00)

A Quiet Hell (from 12-17-09)

Feds To Texas' Environmental Regulators: Good God, You Suck (UPDATED With Rick Perry Saying No, You Suck) (from 5-26-10)


You'll have to see if there's anything available on the Texas Observer's site, but I don't think they have that available for free...

[Lagomorph]

6. Thank you...

I'm still catching up on Texas political history.

[kentauros]

7. The Texas Observer is probably one of the best sources for that.

Also, any of Molly Ivins' books, too :D