Facility Safety Management

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CSB Finds Dysfunction at BP and OSHA

“A dysfunctional safety culture existed at all levels of BP,” according to the final report from the CSB investigation into the Texas City refinery explosion that killed 15 two years ago. The report also finds that OSHA was lax in its enforcement and should increase inspections of petrochemical facilities.

In the 335-page report, federal investigators from the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) conclude that “organizational and safety deficiencies at all levels of the BP Corporation”
caused the March 23, 2005, explosion at the BP Texas City refinery, the worst industrial accident in the United States since 1990.

CSB Chairman Carolyn W. Merritt said, “It is my sincere hope and belief that our report and the recent Baker report will establish a new standard of care for corporate boards of directors and
CEO’s throughout the world. Process safety programs to protect the lives of workers and the public deserve the same level of attention, investment, and scrutiny as companies now dedicate to
maintaining their financial controls. The boards of directors of oil and chemical companies should examine every detail of their process safety programs to ensure that no other terrible tragedy like
the one at BP occurs.”

The independent Baker panel, formed and funded by BP in response to an urgent CSB safety recommendation, issued its final report in January 2007. It found “material deficiencies” in the safety of
BP’s five U.S. refineries in Texas, California, Indiana, Ohio, and Washington. The 11-member panel also issued ten safety recommendations, including calling on BP’s corporate board to closely
monitor safety performance at its facilities.

The Baker panel was not charged with determining the root causes of the March 2005 explosion.
The CSB report calls on BP to appoint an additional member of the board of directors with expertise in process safety, and calls for BP senior executives to establish an improved incident reporting
program and use new indicators to measure safety performance.

The report also calls on OSHA to increase inspection and enforcement at U.S. oil refineries and chemical plants, and to require these corporations to evaluate the safety impact of mergers, reorganizations, downsizing and budget cuts.

“OSHA’s national focus on inspecting facilities with high injury rates, while important, has resulted in reduced attention to preventing less frequent, but catastrophic, process safety incidents such as the one at Texas City,” the report reads. The report found that when the Process Safety Management standard was created, OSHA had envisioned a highly technical, complex, and lengthy inspection process for regulated facilities, called a Program Quality Verification or PQV inspection. The inspections would take weeks or months at each facility and would be conducted by a select,
well-trained, and experienced team.

As part of its investigation, the CSB looked at the role of OSHA in inspecting and enforcing
safety regulations at refineries and chemical plants. Although the refinery had experienced numerous fatal incidents from 1985 to 2005, the investigation found that OSHA conducted only one planned PSM inspection at the Texas City Refinery, in 1998.

Other, unplanned OSHA inspections of the Texas City Refinery occurred in response
to accidents, complaints, or referrals; the report said that unplanned inspections are typically narrower in scope and shorter than planned inspections. Proposed OSHA fines during the 20 years preceding
the March 2005 disaster - a period when 10 fatalities occurred at the refinery - totaled $270,255; net fines collected after negotiations totaled $77,860.

Following the March 2005 explosion, OSHA issued the largest penalty in its history to BP, over $21 million for more than 300 egregious and willful violations.

Naphta Release

In March, a power failure caused a processing unit to shut down at the BP Whiting Refinery, releasing a small cloud of naphtha into the air. The shut down also caused a fire on the pipe of a crude oil processing unit, said a BP spokesman who called the fire small.

The incident apparently began when a crane hit a power line at the north end of the plant and cut power to that portion of the refinery.

The plant went into shutdown mode to flare excess products — burn it off through the flare stacks. Going into shutdown results in a pressure buildup from the product that can’t go through the
processing unit.

The buildup caused a relief valve to open, releasing a “small quantity of naphtha” into the air. It also caused the fire high on the stack that was extinguished by refinery personnel within 30 minutes.

The naphtha formed a small cloud that drifted over the area, leaving a residue on people, vehicles and other property. BP personnel distributed “material safety sheets” to explain the properties of the chemical to those exposed to the naphtha. Several employees of the Mittal Steel USA Indiana Harbor plant went to the company’s medical unit after they were exposed to the airborne material.

ExxonMobil Plant Earns the NPRA Distinguished Safety Award

The National Petrochemical & Refiners Association (NPRA) has presented its highest award, the Distinguished Safety Award (DSA), to ExxonMobil Chemical Co.’s Baton Rouge Polyolefins
Plant for the fifth consecutive year.

Since the NPRA safety awards program began in 1982, no other company has won the DSA five years in a row. Also receiving the DSA Honorable Mention this year are the Citgo Corpus
Christi, TX, Refinery and the ExxonMobil Baton Rouge, LA, Refinery.

“Protecting the health and safety of employees and communities and safeguarding the environment are fundamental values of NPRA members,” said Norm Phillips, NPRA’s vice-chairman of
the Board. “NPRA members work diligently each day to implement continuing improvements — in
preventing spills, in reducing emissions, in training for emergencies and by developing ever-safer products and processes. This award recognizes those facilities that have operated to the highest standard of excellence.”

The Distinguished Safety Award is part of the comprehensive safety awards program developed by NPRA’s Safety & Health Committee. The committee promotes accident prevention in the petroleum
refining and petrochemical manufacturing industries and publicly recognizes the industry’s record.

To be considered for the award, a location must achieve both an employee and contractor total recordable incidence rate of 0.8 or less and have had no employee cases involving days away from work for the applicable evaluation period.

(A total recordable incidence rate is a calculation of the number of injuries and illnesses reported to OSHA multiplied by 200,000, the base number of hours worked for 100 full time employees.

This is then divided by the total employee hours worked in that calendar year.)

A selection committee from NPRA’s Safety & Health Committee then examines the facility’s overall performance history over three evaluation periods and its performance — based on number of hours
or years worked without a lost workday case — and reviews a written description of the facility’s safety program.

Safety Milestone Celebrated at Rubbermaid Commercial Products

The employees of Rubbermaid Commercial Products, LLC have worked a million hours without a lost-time injury at the Winchester, VA, manufacturing, distribution and office facility.

“This milestone is no accident…pun intended,” said Plant Manager Erik Singer. “We have an intense focus on safe practices.

Our associates see, hear and experience a consistent message about the importance
of working safely. Everyone in the company has a Safe Practices objective on their annual plan and review, and our bonus program has a safety component. We like to say we’re rewarded twice for working safely: once with well-being and again with our Value Share bonus.”

“The milestone is noteworthy, and a great opportunity,” reported Safety Director Marc Evans. “A million hours is staggering, and by taking time to celebrate, we can reinforce our safety message.
We really appreciate the people who come to work here every day, day after day, and love that they are injuryfree on the job.”

Rubbermaid Commercial Products, headquartered in Winchester, VA, is an ISO 9001 manufacturer of innovative, solution-based products for commercial and institutional markets worldwide. RCP is a business unit of Newell Rubbermaid Co., Inc., a global marketer of consumer and commercial products with annual sales of approximately $6 billion. For more information, visit Rubbermaid
Commercial Product’s web site at www.rcpworksmarter.com. FSM