Probe traces BP blast blame back to London
Probe traces BP blast blame back to London
The final official report into the Texas City disaster, which killed 15 people and injured a further 180, has accused top BP bosses of ignoring warnings that a disaster was imminent. The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board's (CSB) report, published in Houston this week, concluded that cost cuts mandated by the company's London headquarters contributed to the tragedy and the BP board knew of the problems in Texas but did 'too little and too late'. The board said: 'The Texas City disaster was caused by organisational and safety deficiencies at all levels of BP Corporation.' It added: 'Warning signs of a possible disaster were present for several years, but company officials did not intervene effectively to prevent it.' Workers were severely fatigued, the report found, with some having worked 12-hour shifts for over 30 consecutive days. CSB laid blame squarely at the feet of Lord Browne and his colleagues in London, saying: 'The BP chief executive and the BP board of directors did not exercise effective safety oversight.' According to CSB chair, Carolyn W Merritt: 'The combination of cost-cutting, production pressures, and failure to invest caused a progressive deterioration of safety at the refinery. Beginning in 2002, BP commissioned a series of audits and studies that revealed serious safety problems at the Texas City refinery, including a lack of necessary preventative maintenance and training.' She added: 'These audits and studies were shared with BP executives in London, and were provided to at least one member of the executive board. BP's response was too little and too late. Some additional investments were made, but they did not address the core problems in Texas City. In 2004, BP executives challenged their refineries to cut yet another 25 per cent from their budgets for the following year.' Among CSB's recommendations are calls for BP to encourage guilt-free reporting of incidents and to appoint a non-executive director with direct experience of process safety. The board also calls on both the petroleum industry and US unions to develop fatigue prevention guidelines limiting hours and days of work.
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