BP knew of Texas City problems before blast -US
Source: Reuters
(Adds byline, company comment) By Robert Campbell NEW YORK, Oct 30 (Reuters) - BP Plc <BP.L> executives were aware of problems with equipment and procedures well before an explosion at the company's Texas City, Texas, refinery in March 2005 killed 15 workers and injured 180 others, U.S. federal investigators said on Monday. An internal safety audit conducted in 2003 turned up serious safety deficiencies at the refinery as well as 34 other BP industrial sites around the world, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board said. "The CSB's investigation shows that BP's global management was aware of problems with maintenance, spending, and infrastructure well before March 2005," said Carolyn Merritt, chairman of the CSB, in a press release. "Unsafe and antiquated equipment designs were left in place, and unacceptable deficiencies in preventative maintenance were tolerated," she said. The explosion at the Texas City refinery was the worst workplace accident in the United States in more than a decade. BP's image has been further undermined since the blast as corrosion problems at its Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska caused the worst-ever oil leak on the North Slope last winter. BP is also under investigation for alleged manipulation of some energy markets. BP has accepted responsibility for the Texas City accident although officials deny that the problems at Prudhoe Bay and Texas City indicate a more widespread safety problem within the company. "We agree with the CSB in terms of this being a preventable tragedy. That said, we do not understand the basis for some of the comments made by the CSB," said BP spokesman Ronnie Chappell. BP's own review of its worldwide operations after the accident did not turn up signs of severe safety problems. "While we identified issues with each of our facilities worldwide, we found nothing with the breadth and scope of the problems identified at Texas City," Chappell said. The CSB believes that heavy cost cutting by BP and management's failure to tackle the potential for serious safety incidents at its industrial sites are to blame at least in part for the accident. BP managers were focusing on reducing high-frequency low impact safety problems rather than less frequent catastrophic safety issues, the CSB's lead investigator, Don Holstrom, told Reuters in an interview. Three fatal accidents at the Texas City refinery in 2004 underscored the problems at the plant even as workplace safety statistics were improving. "It's clear to us that the attempts by BP to solve problems in this area were not sufficient," Holstrom said. "They were attempting to turn things around but it was perhaps too little, too late." Since the accident BP has committed to spending $7 billion to improve infrastructure and safety at its U.S. operations in the wake of the Texas City and Prudhoe Bay incidents. The refinery has not yet been fully restarted since being completely shut down in September 2005. The CSB's final report on the blast will not likely be issued prior to March 2007, the CSB said in the release. (Additional reporting by Richard Valdmanis in New York)
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