It’s even tougher to argue with someone who has already determined the culpability for an accident without knowing or acknowledging ALL the facts.
Since you are so eager to affix blame why not address that which is due the Federal Government and specifically OSHA for it’s failure to enforce its own laws choosing instead to issue warnings and threats of fines.If they determined the sites to be such hazards why weren’t they shut down until corrections were implemented? Are fines a guarantee of employee safety? Is this the act of a responsible government concerned for the safety of its citizens or one more concerned with economic impacts? And your solution is to add more government beauracracy to the mix. Sure BP may have been in error but why with such an outstandingly poor safety record have they been granted license to operate in waters under Federal jurisdiction by the same government sworn to protect its citizens.
[color=blue]Again, a blast involving BP Company is already facing fines over safety
An enormous oil spill. A fiery explosion. Eleven presumed dead. And more questions about another catastrophic accident tied to an all-too-familiar company: BP
Though the Deepwater Horizon was owned and operated by Swiss company Transocean Ltd., it was leased by BP, a London-based multinational oil giant with the worst safety record of any major oil company operating refineries in the United States.
In October, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis proposed fining BP Products North America Inc. $87.4 million in penalties for the company’s alleged failure to correct systemic problems that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and others identified after BP’s Texas City refinery exploded in 2005.
That accident killed 15 people and seriously injured more than 170 others.
The proposed fine is the largest in OSHA’s history. The previous record — a $21 million fine — also was issued against BP after various government investigations uncovered a systemic and cultural disregard for safety after the 2005 explosion.
And in March, OSHA proposed an additional $3 million in fines against BP North America Inc. and BP-Husky Refining LLC for “exposing workers to serious hazards” and to potential injury and death from explosion-related building collapses of nine buildings at its Ohio refinery.
“OSHA has found that BP often ignored or severely delayed fixing known hazards in its refineries,” Solis said. “There is no excuse for taking chances with people’s lives. BP must fix the hazards now.”
Focus on refineries
Since then, OSHA has focused its stepped-up enforcement efforts at all BP’s downstream operations, including refineries in Texas, Indiana, California, Washington and Ohio, U.S. Energy Information Administration records show.
BP continues to fight the latest proposed fines.
The company claims to have met OSHA safety improvement goals required in Texas City and has spent more than a billion dollars in improvements since the 2005 disaster.
BP officials did not comment for this story.
In an earlier statement, Texas City refinery manager Keith Casey said, “We remain committed to further enhancing our safety and compliance systems and achieving our goal of becoming an industry leader in process safety.”
Widespread concerns
Meanwhile, other government safety regulators, as well as state attorneys and U.S. Department of Justice prosecutors have targeted BP for alleged safety or environmental violations in various operations, including drilling in Alaska, refining operations in various states as well as minor accidents aboard other offshore platforms, according to records and press releases.
It has not yet been determined what might have caused the fire and explosion on the Deepwater Horizon, which caught fire as it was drilling for oil deep beneath the Gulf of Mexico.
Some critics, like Beaumont plaintiffs attorney Brent Coon, worry that BP may once again have neglected safety issues in its aggressive pursuit of profits.
Coon represented more than 100 people who filed suit against BP after the 2005 blast.
“They’re very smart, but they’re very greedy, and they know full well the limits of deferring maintenance and pushing the envelope and they’re willing to take those risks,” Coon said. “They make a conscious decision to accept a higher degree of risk of major catastrophes than other companies do.”
Lynne Baker, a spokesperson for United Steelworkers Union, which represents about 30,000 refinery workers nationwide, argues, however, that BP clearly has made progress.
“In spite of the company missing some of the OSHA deadlines and getting the increased fines, they have worked hard to get themselves in a better position in all the refineries,” Baker said.
BP increasingly is relying on its offshore operations in the Gulf of Mexico for its US profits, since refinery revenues have fallen with the price of oil, its most recent 2009 annual report shows.
Regardless of what safety inspectors eventually conclude about the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig disaster, BP will be held responsible for cleaning up the oil spill. This week, the company focused its onshore activity in five locations in the potentially affected states: Venice, La.; Pascagoula and Biloxi, Miss.; Mobile, Ala.; and Pensacola, Fla.
BP Group Chief Executive Tony Hayward has pledged that BP will cooperate fully with all government investigations.
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May 2, 2010 Posted by Jack Benton | Environmental, LinkedIn, News, OSHA Investigation, OSHA News, Oil Spill & Disaster, Public Safety, Workplace Safety | BP Oil, News, Oil Spill, OSHA Investigation | No Comments Yet [/color]
Without getting into the complexities of economics,suffice it to say that you may have the next best thing since sliced bread but if no one wants it it is worthless or you may have something inane but everyone wants one so you have a potetial goldmine.
