BP Accounts for 97% of Flagrant Violations At U.S. Refineries in Last 3 Years

June 7, 2010 (LPAC)—In an article entitled "Renegade Refiner: OSHA Says BP Has Systemic Safety Problem" by Jim Morris and M.B. Pell, written on May 16 for the Center for Public Integrity, the willful criminal negligence of BP is documented with a vengeance. According to OSHA, two refineries owned by oil giant BP account for 97 percent of all flagrant violations found in the refining industry by government safety inspectors over the past 3 years. Most of BP's citations were classified as "egregious willful" by OSHA. Refinery inspection data obtained by the Center under FOIA for OSHA's nationwide refinery inspection program launched in June 2007, show that BP received a total of 862 citations between June 2007 and February 2010 for alleged violations at its refineries in Texas City, Ohio, and Toledo, Ohio. Of those, 760 were classified as "egregious willful" and 69 were classified as "willful." Thirty of the BP citations were deemed "serious" and three were unclassified.

BP accounted for 829 of the 851 willful violations among all refiners cited by OSHA during the period. It was cited for more "egregious willful" violations than other refiners because it failed to correct the types of problems that led to the 2005 Texas City accident even after OSHA pointed them out. That accident resulted in multiple deaths.