BP had "significant" safety deficiencies at all five of its US refineries, an independent panel that was set up to probe a deadly blast in Texas in 2005 said on Tuesday.
In a 374-page report, the committee, chaired by former US secretary of state James Baker, assailed the lack of a rigorous safety culture at the British energy giant's US operations.
It found that "instances of a lack of operating discipline, toleration of serious deviations from safe operating practices and apparent complacency towards serious process safety risks existed at each of the US refineries."
PHOTO: AP
BP said it intended to implement the panel's recommendations and noted that it had already taken a number of "significant actions" to improve the safety of its plants.
"This is about getting to a standard of excellence," outgoing BP chief John Browne told a press conference in Houston, via video link from London.
The panel was set up on the US government's recommendation following the enormous explosion at BP's Texas City refinery in March 2005, which killed 15 people and injured 180.
"BP has not provided effective process safety leadership in making certain its management and US refining workforce understand what is expected of them regarding safety performance," the panel said in a statement.
It said that "BP tended to have a short-term focus in its US refining operations," and said the US refineries lacked a common safety culture guided by clear expectations from management.
It also noted that the problems it found were not unique to BP and recommended that other oil companies reexamine their safety practices. That sentiment was echoed by federal industrial accident investigators.
"This is an opportunity for review and reform on a worldwide scale," Carolyn Merritt, chairwoman of the US Chemical Safety Board, said in response to the Baker panel's report.
"The panel's findings present a landmark opportunity for the boards of directors and executives of oil and chemical companies throughout the world to re-examine their own safety cultures and ask whether they are sufficiently investing in the people, procedures and equipment that will make their workplaces safe from catastrophic accidents," she added.
Merritt accused BP of letting "overzealous cost-cutting" undermine safety in a preliminary report on the Texas City explosion issued in November. The full report is expected on March 20.
The Baker panel, however, found no evidence that BP purposely overlooked the importance of operational safety or that it had made cuts to its safety budget.
Brown defended the company's record. "We've never focused on profits above safety -- safety has always come first," he said.
The panel did find, however, that BP mistakenly interpreted improving personal injury rates as an indication of acceptable safety performance at its US refineries.
That "created a false sense of confidence" about BP's safety culture, the report concluded.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TRAINING: The ministry said 87.5 percent of the apprehended Chinese agents were reported by service members they tried to lure into becoming spies Taiwanese organized crime, illegal money lenders, temples and civic groups are complicit in Beijing’s infiltration of the armed forces, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a report yesterday. Retired service members who had been turned to Beijing’s cause mainly relied on those channels to infiltrate the Taiwanese military, according to the report to be submitted to lawmakers ahead of tomorrow’s hearing on Chinese espionage in the military. Chinese intelligence typically used blackmail, Internet-based communications, bribery or debts to loan sharks to leverage active service personnel to do its bidding, it said. China’s main goals are to collect intelligence, and develop a
RSS