By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Aug. 13 -- BP Products North America Inc. agreed to pay $50.6 million in a settlement with the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration to resolve 270 of 709 citations issued to BP at its 455,790 b/d refinery in Texas City, Tex.
In citations issued in October 2009, OSHA alleges BP failed to fulfill an agreement following a Mar. 23, 2005, refinery explosion and fire that killed 15 people and injured 170 others.
BP contested the citations, maintaining the refinery undertook extensive actions to enhance worker safety since 2005 in full conformance with the 2005 agreement.
In addition to the $50.6 million, BP agreed to spend $500 million during 2010-16 in a program designed to implement process safety practices and address potential hazards identified through engineering reviews.
The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board issued a series of recommendations during a 2-year period. The recommendations were made to BP, the American Petroleum Institute, OSHA, and others (OGJ, Sept. 8, 2008, p. 20).
In settlement announced Aug. 12, BP and OSHA established a schedule for refinery activities that are to be verified by independent experts and OSHA.
The $500 million is in addition to the more than $1 billion that BP spent on safety and infrastructure improvements at the Texas City refinery during 2005-09.
Iain Conn, BP's global head of refining and marketing, said, “BP and OSHA are jointly committed to workplace safety, and a strong relationship with OSHA is of great importance to BP.”
US Government Accountability Office.
