US safety regulators on Friday hit oil giant BP with a record US$87.4 million fine for failing to fix safety violations at its Texas City, Texas, refinery after a deadly 2005 explosion.
In announcing the fines, US Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said old and new safety violations found by the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) at the nation’s third largest refinery “could lead to another catastrophe” like the 2005 explosion that killed 15 workers and injured 180.
BP filed a contest to the fine, calling OSHA’s actions disappointing as the company believed the Texas City refinery had honored a 2005 agreement with the agency to fix safety problems that led to the blast.
BP said contesting fines would send the dispute to a US administrative law judge for a ruling. BP also has an appeal pending before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, an independent panel that reviews OSHA actions.
Of the fine, US$56.7 million was for 270 instances of failure to abate problems found in 2005. The remaining US$30.7 million was for 439 new willful violations for not following industry standards on pressure relief systems and other process safety failures, according to the agency.
BP took multiple steps to fix problems found at Texas City in the first three years after the 2005 blast, “but later their commitment waned,” said Dean McDaniel, OSHA regional administrator in Dallas.
“There are some serious systemic safety problems within the corporation, specifically within this refinery as well,” acting assistant labor secretary for OSHA Jordan Barab said. “I think that just the fact that there still are so many life-threatening problems indicates they have a systemic safety problem at this refinery.”
In 2005, BP paid a then-record US$21.3 million fine to OSHA and entered into a four-year agreement with the agency. As the agreement neared its end in September, OSHA warned the company that numerous problems remained.
Earlier this year, BP pleaded guilty to criminal charges in the explosion and paid a US$50 million fine to the US Justice Department. The company was placed on three years’ probation, a condition of which was fulfilling the agreement with OSHA.
The US attorney’s office in Houston was reviewing OSHA’s action, a spokeswoman said in a statement.
“We will take all appropriate actions to ensure the plea agreement is not violated and cannot comment further at this time,” said Angela Dodge, spokeswoman for the US attorney’s office.
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