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More Oversight Needed
Despite a number of requests for interviews and an email listing questions regarding process safety issues, the American Petroleum Institute (API) was unable to provide a respondent, issuing instead, a statement saying, “We as an industry are committed to constant improvement and we work very hard to make sure the worksite is as safe as possible.”
Jim Nibarger conceded that the industry has done a lot for workers in the area of personal safety but says “hard hats, safety glasses; and slips, trips, and falls says nothing about how safe a refinery is.”
BP had a low personal injury rate at its refineries until the explosion and fire in 2005, he said, but added, “It failed miserably in terms of process safety.”
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) was one of the lawmakers who hosted the USW briefing in the Senate. Having been to two funerals in the last year as a result of refinery explosions in Washington state, she spoke on the USW video, saying, “We have not done enough.”
A member of the subcommittee that examined process safety issues following the BP Deepwater Horizon explosion, Sen. Murray called for greater federal oversight of the industry.
She believes workers concerns must be taken on board. “They see what’s going on, it is critical they have a voice at the table,” she said.
The USW says it is not all oil companies that are ignoring process safety management. However, the ones that are pose a real risk to workers and communities at large.
As the main body representing workers at 168 refineries and allied facilities nationwide, the USW is responsible for 64 percent of U.S. refining capacity. They say they are prepared to strike unless process safety recommendations are taken up by the industry.
The USW is taking its concerns to the National Oil Bargaining negotiations, which precede the renewal of a three-year workplace contract between the union and industry, due to expire in February next year.
Jim Lefton says since the last round of bargaining in 2009 there have been 25 fatalities and 175 fires reported by the industry.
“We have seen seven of our brothers and sisters die needlessly in an explosion at Anacortes, Wash., over a maintenance issue that the industry has known about for 30 years—high temperature hydrogen attack.”
Lefton says it is now time to address the issues “in the realm of collective bargaining.”
“It is our hope that we will be successful. If not, we are prepared to do what is necessary to protect our members from death and injury at the hands of this industry,” he said.
Kim Nibarger says he suspects the industry will accuse the unions of “just banging the drum” but says the demands are not unreasonable.
“All we want is for workers to be able to go to work and know they are going to come home at night,” he said.
