FWIW, BP's safety record over the past few years:
hazards.org
USA: BP fined again for ‘wilful’ safety breaches
Hazards news, 13 March 2010
The US government safety watchdog has fined British oil giant BP PLC $3 million (£2m), citing a catalogue of ‘wilful’ safety breaches at its Toledo, Ohio, refinery. The move comes just four months after it imposed a record safety penalty on the company over its refinery in Texas.
USA: Poisoned BP workers get $100m payout
Hazards news, 9 January 2009
A federal jury in Texas has ordered UK-based multinational BP plc to pay $100 million (£62.5m) to 10 workers who were sickened by a 2007 chemical release at its Texas City refinery. Tony Buzbee represents another 133 workers suing BP over the chemical release and says originally his clients asked BP for $5,000 each in damages, but went to trial when BP wouldn't budge from a $500 settlement offer to each worker.
Britain: HSE pulls director leadership case histories
Hazards news, 14 November 2009
The Health and Safety Executive has removed a “directors’ leadership” case history on BP from its website, after the watchdog was criticised for providing an undeserved public relations push for “a serial safety offender.” The criticism of BP came in a 2 November letter sent by campaigning magazine Hazards to HSE chief executive Geoffrey Podger in the wake of a record US safety fine on BP for failing to remedy hundreds of problems at its Texas City refinery.
USA: BP hit with largest ever safety fine
Hazards news, 7 November 2009
British multinational BP has been hit with the USA’s largest ever safety fine. US labor secretary Hilda Solis announced on 30 October that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) had levied the largest fine in its history - $87.4 million [over £53m] - against BP for failing to correct safety problems identified after a 2005 explosion that killed 15 workers at its Texas City refinery.
Global: BP ‘failed’ to make safety changes
Hazards news, 4 October 2009
London-based multinational BP’s claims to have long since addressed the safety malaise in its refineries have been discredited after the latest intervention by the US safety regulator. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) told BP last month it had failed to make agreed-upon safety improvements at its Texas City refinery following the March 2005 explosions that killed 15 workers.
Global: Browne’s BP blast ignorance revealed
Hazards news, 2 August 2008
It took more than a year for a dogged Texan lawyer, Brent Coon, to get the former BP boss Lord Browne to answer questions on the legal record about the Texas City oil disaster. A transcript of an hour-long deposition given by Browne about the 2005 tragedy at BP's Texas City refinery in which a group of exhausted labourers overfilled a dilapidated vertical drum with chemicals, causing an explosion which showered burning liquid over accommodation trailers nearby revealed Browne had extremely limited knowledge of the incident.
Britain: BP neglect caused asbestos cancer
Hazards news, 5 July 2008
BP Oil UK has been told it must pay compensation to the family of a former worker who died from the asbestos cancer mesothelioma. Unite member Wilf Human worked at the firm’s refinery on the Isle of Grain from 1957 until 1979.
Global: BP gets record fine and probation
Hazards news, 3 November 2007
The US Department of Justice has fined UK-based oil multinational BP a total of $373m (£182m), for breaking environmental and safety rules and committing fraud. The fines include $50m relating to the Texas refinery explosion in 2005 that killed 15 people and injured 180 more, with this penalty also including three years probation.
UK/USA: BP explosion report ‘toned down’
Hazards news , 16 June 2007
BP’s internal investigator admitted in sworn testimony that his final draft report on the UK company’s management responsibility for the 2005 Texas refinery explosion was toned down. The admission came less than a week after another contract worker died at the Texas City plant.
USA: Second implicated BP boss goes
Hazards news, 9 June 2007
The head of BP's refining operations has quit to take up a job in Canada, ending a persistent clamour for his resignation since a fatal explosion ripped through the oil company's Texas City plant in 2005. John Manzoni’s resignation came just a month after the confidential BP ‘Bonse’ report was made public that accused him of failing to perform his duties in the run-up to the explosion and of engaging in a “simply not acceptable” standoff with a colleague.
The Guardian • More news on BP's safety record
Britain: BP faces further safety attacks
Hazards news, 12 May 2007
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has ordered BP to improve safety on its North Sea oil and gas installations, issuing 14 notices to the energy group in the past year. So far the stipulations in 10 of the notices have been met. Offshore union Unite said it was not surprised, given BP's safety record, that it had received so many improvement notices.
Britain: Probe traces BP Texas blast blame back to London
Risks 299, 24 March 2007
The final official report into the Texas City disaster, which killed 15 people and injured a further 180, has accused top BP bosses of ignoring warnings that a disaster was imminent. The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board's (CSB) report concluded that cost cuts mandated by the company's London headquarters contributed to the tragedy and the BP board knew of the problems in Texas but did “too little and too late”.
Global: BP fought off Texas safety controls
Risks 297, 10 March 2007
UK multinational BP successfully lobbied against tighter environmental controls by regulators in Texas, saving $150m (£77m) in monitoring and equipment upgrades prior to the fatal Texas City refinery explosion in 2005, internal documents show. |
