Washington state fines BP for safety violations at refinery

Source: Bellingham Herald

The BP Cherry Point refinery has been fined $69,200 for 13 safety violations that the Washington Department of Labor and Industries has labeled "serious."

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In a press release, Labor and Industries said its inspection focused on the hydrocracker process unit, which refines low-grade oil into gasoline. Twelve of the violations involve regulations governing the management of highly hazardous chemicals. One of the violations involves a failure to provide proper machine guarding.

The 12 process safety management problems included failure to routinely inspect or maintain safety control devices, such as pressure safety valves; inaccurate or outdated instrument diagrams; and failure to record whether identified safety hazards were corrected. One violation noted that there were 38 instances of safety recommendations for which there was no record they were ever implemented.

"The safety violations our inspectors uncovered at BP were problems similar to those we've uncovered in all of the refineries we have inspected in Washington," Michael Silverstein, assistant director for L&I's Division of Occupational Safety and Health, said in a press release. "Petroleum refineries are inherently risky work environments, and following the safety regulations is the key to preventing explosions and other life-threatening events."


Company spokesman Bill Kidd said officials have not had time to review the L&I citations but said his company wants to work with regulators to maintain and improve safety. "We take the responsibility for the safety of our employees and our neighbors very seriously," Kidd said. "It's our top priority. . . . While we're proud of our track record, there's always room for improvement."



Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/05/1614909/washington-state-fines-bp-for.html

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Safety is their top priority but 38 instances of safety recommendations at the plant not implemented. That's how they treat items of top priority?

The article also said that BP put together a group to evaluate all of their plants safety practices. The report these guys came up with gave the Washington refinery high marks for safety precautions. Must have been grading plants on a curve.

at least they can claim that they didn't build this particular refinery, they just "inherited" it in recent years when they bought out ARCO. Not to say they're trying to do the right thing by any means, but it's not exactly the same thing as deliberately building a faulty piece of shit operation like the gulf oil rig.

:shrug: