by Agence France-Presse
WASHINGTON – British energy giant BP, which is battling a gigantic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, also has a record of flagrant safety violations at its U.S. refineries, according to a Washington-based investigative group.
The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization, said its analysis showed two refineries owned by BP account for 97 percent of all flagrant violations found in the U.S. refining industry by inspectors over the past three years.
Most of BP’s citations were classified as “egregious willful” by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the group said in its release Sunday. It noted that BP has been under scrutiny from the federal worker-safety monitor since its refinery in Texas City, Texas, exploded in March 2005, killing 15 workers.
The report said refinery inspection data obtained by the center under the Freedom of Information Act showed that BP received a total of 862 citations between June 2007 and February 2010 for alleged violations at its refineries in Texas City and Toledo, Ohio.
Of those, 760 were classified as “egregious willful” and 69 were classified as “willful,” according to the report, which said BP accounted for 829 of the 851 willful violations among all refiners cited by OSHA during the period.
OSHA officials told the center in an interview that BP failed to correct the types of problems that led to the 2005 Texas City accident even after OSHA pointed them out.
BP, which operates five U.S. refineries that collectively process about 1.5million barrels of crude oil per day, was hit last year with a proposed $87 million fine from OSHA for violations at the Texas City refinery with another fine of $3 million for violations in Toledo, Ohio, according to the report. BP is contesting both penalties.
Contacted by AFP, BP had no immediate response to the report.
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