BP had 760 "egregious, willful" safety violations, Exxon just one?

[Puppycow]

This reported by ABC:

OSHA statistics show BP ran up 760 "egregious, willful" safety violations, while Sunoco and Conoco-Phillips each had eight, Citgo had two and Exxon had one comparable citation.

I have a question though: Is this an apples-to-apples comparison? These are safety violations at refineries, not drilling rigs.

Did these other companies with fewer violations operate a comparable number of refineries?

 

[dtugg]

I have a question though: Is this an apples-to-apples comparison? These are safety violations at refineries, not drilling rigs.

Perhaps.

Did these other companies with fewer violations operate a comparable number of refineries?

It seems as though they only counted refineries in Texas and Ohio. It's possible that they cherry-picked in order to make BP look bad. However, of the top 143 refiners in the US, these are the number each company had in Texas and Ohio (assuming I counted right):

BP: 2
Sunoco: 1
Conoco-Phillips: 1
Citgo: 1
ExxonMobil: 2

http://www.eia.doe.gov/neic/rankings/refineries.htm

 

[Puppycow]

According to the Center for Public Integrity, in the last three years, BP refineries in Ohio and Texas have accounted for 97 percent of the "egregious, willful" violations handed out by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

I understood this to mean that those two refineries (which happened to be in Ohio and Texas) accounted for 97% of all such violations in all US states (in the industry in question). It would be odd to pick just 2 states and exclude all others.

 

[Puppycow]

More here

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 three years, a Center for Public Integrity analysis shows. Most of BP’s citations were classified as “egregious willful” by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and reflect alleged violations of a rule designed to prevent catastrophic events at refineries.

So that means all states, within the refining industry. That's pretty bad. I suppose that refining is a separate division from drilling, but it's still amazing that these two refineries account for 97% of the “egregious willful” violations in the whole industry.

 

[dtugg]

Yep I the entire industry, I misread. That is pretty amazing. I had no idea they had such a flagrant disregard for safety.

 

[LTC8K6]

What would these violations have to do with safely drilling an oil well, though? When I think of OSHA violations I think of people not having proper safety gear, or missing lockouts, etc.

 

[Aoidoi]

They blew up that refinery about 5 years ago and promised that they'd clean things up. I shudder to think of what they were doing if this is "cleaner."

They also managed to hose up the Alaskan Pipeline sometime before that due to lack of maintenance.

BP appears to have a corporate culture in which immediate profits trumps long term viability and safety. Their management appears willing to accept (or unwilling to avoid) massive catastrophe on a semi-regular basis. I would like to see a criminal investigation into their activities, as this sort of thing stinks of willful negligence and I see no other way to stop them.

 

[TraneWreck]

They blew up that refinery about 5 years ago and promised that they'd clean things up. I shudder to think of what they were doing if this is "cleaner."

They also managed to hose up the Alaskan Pipeline sometime before that due to lack of maintenance.

BP appears to have a corporate culture in which immediate profits trumps long term viability and safety. Their management appears willing to accept (or unwilling to avoid) massive catastrophe on a semi-regular basis. I would like to see a criminal investigation into their activities, as this sort of thing stinks of willful negligence and I see no other way to stop them.

But their corporate logo is green and earthy. My subconscious understands their company as a friend to the environment, how can that be wrong?

 

[funk de fino]

They blew up that refinery about 5 years ago and promised that they'd clean things up. I shudder to think of what they were doing if this is "cleaner."

They also managed to hose up the Alaskan Pipeline sometime before that due to lack of maintenance.

BP appears to have a corporate culture in which immediate profits trumps long term viability and safety. Their management appears willing to accept (or unwilling to avoid) massive catastrophe on a semi-regular basis. I would like to see a criminal investigation into their activities, as this sort of thing stinks of willful negligence and I see no other way to stop them.

It's the opposite in the EU. It must be because the regulatory authorities allow them to be so slack in the US that they slip into these habits.

 

[thaiboxerken]

What would these violations have to do with safely drilling an oil well, though? When I think of OSHA violations I think of people not having proper safety gear, or missing lockouts, etc.

Willful violations are actually more severe than this. This would be like ordering people to work without locking out a device that should be locked out. Disabling safety interlocks would also qualify. Willful also means that the company supervisors or managers knew about the violations and ignored them as well. IIRC, it's the most severe violation that OSHA can hand out.

 

[funk de fino]

What would these violations have to do with safely drilling an oil well, though? When I think of OSHA violations I think of people not having proper safety gear, or missing lockouts, etc.

I would say its more to do with Explosion protection equipment. It is installed at rigsites and refineries. The standards for this are regulated by the OSHA.

It may not have looked so bias if other information had also been included such as the amount of serious citations and unclassified citations. The US authorities have (quite rightly) had a hard on for BP in the last few years and that is reflected in the classifications of the citations if you look deeper.

 

[Nogbad]

If they had 760 violations why were they not pulled up for it? Does a violation actually mean anything in the US regulatory framework? If BP were incurring that number of breaches in the UK the Health and Safety Executive would have hides out to dry.

 

[INRM]

I read about this a couple of days ago. It's pretty amazing how much they got away with

 

[thaiboxerken]

If they had 760 violations why were they not pulled up for it?

Dick Cheney

 

[LTC8K6]

So how did they get a pass from the current admin?

 

[Cain]

See the government can't do anything right.

Why not just let the Free Market decide? You doubt its wisdom? Right now the Free Market has decided to drench some pelicans in oil. Hey, it works in mysterious ways...

 

[Jekyll's Guest]

Ask not what your free market can do for you, but what you can do for your free market!

 

[dtugg]

Dick Cheney

What does Cheney have to do with BP?

 

[dirtywick]

OSHA statistics show BP ran up 760 "egregious, willful" safety violations, while Sunoco and Conoco-Phillips each had eight, Citgo had two and Exxon had one comparable citation.

This word could mean a lot of things.

 

[Ernie M]

Here's an interesting read from ProPublica:
Years of Internal BP Probes Warned That Neglect Could Lead to Accidents.

It appears BP used various strategies and tactics as a means to keep oil flowing.

Next to BP CEO, Tony Hayward's photo, read how Stuart Sneed voiced his concerns regarding how in August 2006, Alaska pipeline inspectors faked reports and other issues- and how he found himself out of a job.

Kenneth Abbott lost his contract with BP after raising his complaints, some of which were about (non-existant but yet essential/requisite?) "as-bulit" drawings for BP's Atlantis drilling rig.

Please read the entire article as it covers a breadth and depth of topics which a brief synopsis here won't do justice.