Capital Commerce: Refinery safety under fire
The U.S. oil refining business, still struggling to return to full operations after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, is under new scrutiny over safety practices. This week, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) issued an urgent safety recommendation—only the second one in its eight-year history—that the oil and chemical businesses adopt new standards to ensure that worker trailers be kept away from hazardous areas in refining or petrochemical complexes.
Last March, 15 workers were killed and more than 170 injured in an explosion during an attempted plant restart at BP's refinery in Texas City, Texas. The ensuing fire swept through nine trailers filled with maintenance workers who were not involved with the catastrophic accident. Congress created the CSB to perform the same role as the National Transportation Safety Board does in the wake of aviation accidents. It investigates the cause of accidents and makes recommendations but cannot issue citations, levy fines, or force the industry to act. The agency has come down hard on BP in the wake of the Texas City accident; its first-ever urgent recommendation came several weeks ago when it urged BP to form an independent panel to examine safety practices at its five North American plants. Earlier this week, BP announced the formation of that panel, headed by former U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker III.
BP did, however, have some good news. Despite more than $200 million in damages to its facilities in the hurricanes, BP reported a 34 percent increase in third-quarter profits to $6.5 billion due to high oil prices. As for its troubled Texas City refinery, which the company shut down prior to Hurricane Rita and hoped to reopen before the end of October, BP now says it won't resume production until late in the fourth quarter.