Maybe it's time for BP to call me ;-)
A "terrifying safety culture" at BP was behind an explosion at a Texas oil refinery that killed 15 people and injured 180 others, the head of an official inquiry of the incident said today. Carolyn Merritt, chairman of the US Chemical Safety Board (CSB), said: "As the investigation unfolded, we were absolutely terrified that such a culture could exist at BP."
A BP spokesman said: "Our own internal report found serious problems with the safety culture at Texas City and also identified the critical factors leading to the terrible tragedy that occurred there."
The CSB's final report will follow a series of separate investigations that have produced heavy criticism of BP's safety regime at Texas City and in the US generally. The company was fined $21 million in September 2005 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Osha) for 301 violations, the largest fine in the history of the US regulator.
BP suffered a greater blow in January when the Baker panel accused BP of ineffective leadership and of tolerating an undisciplined safety culture and having a complacency towards risk.
The company has been swamped by a torrent of civil litigation from victims of the fire and has set aside $1.6 billion for claims of which 1,000 have so far been settled.
Source: business.timesonline.co.uk