BP Faces $3 Mln Fine Over Safety Issues At Toledo Refinery - Update

(RTTNews) - U.S. regulators on Monday fined British oil giant BP plc (BP: News ,BP.L: News ) $3.04 million, citing safety problems at the company's refinery in Toledo, Ohio.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration or OSHA has cited the Toledo refinery with 42 alleged willful violations, including 39 on a per-instance basis, and 20 alleged serious violations for exposing workers to a variety of hazards. The violations include failure to provide adequate pressure relief for process units. The Toledo refinery is jointly owned by BP North American Inc. and Canada-based Husky Energy Inc.

Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis said, "OSHA has found that BP often ignored or severely delayed fixing known hazards in its refineries. There is no excuse for taking chances with people's lives. BP must fix the hazards now."

OSHA said the alleged willful violations included failing to prevent hazardous accumulation of fuel in process heaters and exposing workers to injury or death from collapse of or damage to nine buildings in the refinery in the event of a fire. OSHA proposed penalties totaling $2.94 million for these citations.

The 20 serious citations, which carry $102,000 in proposed penalties, involve other failures to follow OSHA's process safety management standard including not supporting pipes properly, maintaining heat transfer information for refractory-lined vessels, and investigating contamination of the fire-water system, the agency said.

In response, BP said it was evaluating the citations, and added that the Toledo refinery's 2009 rate of recordable injuries was more than 25% lower than the refining industry average. The company also said it was disappointed OSHA characterized the majority of violations as willful.

BP has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to comply, request an information conference with the OSHA area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

OSHA said it began its inspection at the Toledo refinery in September 2009 as part of the agency's Refinery National Emphasis Program and as a follow-up to a 2006 inspection and a 2007 settlement agreement between OSHA and the company at the location. Since 1991, OSHA has inspected the refinery 12 times.

OSHA noted that although the 2009 inspection found that BP had complied with the settlement agreement, the agency found numerous violations at the plant not previously covered by the agreement. In October 2009, OSHA slapped $87.43 million in proposed penalties on BP for noncompliance to the settlement agreement reached between the company and OSHA in September 2005 after a refinery explosion in March that year.

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