Investigation Launched over Accident at BP Texas City Facility

The accidental death of a contractor at BP’s Texas City refinery is under investigation by federal OSHA personnel. The incident, occurring on Friday of last week, follows March 2005 explosion that killed 15 and prompted the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to levy heavy fines against the oil major. In September, the agency fined BP $21.4 million for serious violations of federal health and safety regulations at the plant, the third-largest of its kind in the country. The latest incident also comes on the heels of other high-profile lapses, including an oil spill from a pipeline in Alaska and a near-miss incident on an offshore oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico.

The string of events has placed enormous pressure on BP to improve its safety practices and processes and the U.S. Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency are investigating BP for possible criminal wrongdoing in connection with the March 2005 accident. BP spokespersons have said, however, that the latest accident had nothing to do with BP safety procedures and was related to the use of construction equipment. An internal investigation into the cause of the accident has been initiated by BP and project work at the facility was stopped for a three-day period while BP officials dealt with the incident.

The series of safety and environmental setbacks at BP's US operations are straining the credibility of BP’s “safety first” philosophy. Partly in response to outside criticism, BP has created the senior position of US health and safety adviser and an ongoing advertising campaign is trying project the firm as green energy company. But trade unions and others have asserted for years that BP had failed invest enough capital and energy into safety reforms. The coming year promises to be a challenging one for all sectors of BP’s U.S. operations. Huge profits for oil majors have sparked debate as to how much of these funds should be paid in taxes and BP is also fending off charges by U.S. regulators regarding the practices of their gas traders.