The deadliest refinery blast in a decade has
Sen. Patty Murray calling for change.
On Tuesday, Murray, D-Wash., grilled federal inspectors who reviewed
Tesoro’s safety measures shortly before the fatal accident in Anacortes
earlier this month. The senator says the shortcomings she found make no
sense.
The seven killed Tesoro refinery workers had no idea they would never
return home again when they left their families and headed to work on
that fateful day.
Equipment exploded and a “firewall” engulfed the crew as they powered
up a fuel processing unit. Investigators still don’t know what went
wrong, but Murray is pressing for answers.
“I’m trying to understand how OSHA’s inspection protocols work in
states like my state,” Murray said.
Murray asked the Occupational Safety and Health Administration why
Tesoro’s 17 prior violations didn’t convince regulators to intervene
sooner.
OSHA says current law seriously limits its powers.
“We can certainly ask the employer to shut it down, but we can’t
require it. We have to go to court,” said David Michaels of OSHA.
Gov. Chris Gregoire used Sunday’s memorial service for the killed
workers to make a similar promise to keep the workplace safe.
“We will work diligently to find out what happened to ensure that it
does not happen again,” she said.
A high-ranking member of the steelworkers union representing the
fallen workers says the refinery industry needs tougher standards for
maintaining its equipment.
“They ought to be talking about why they are taking 60-year-old
equipment and running it non-stop for six years now instead of three
years before they take it down and repair it,” said union spokesman Gary
Beevers.
Murray learned of other shortcomings regulators deal with, including
how companies can keep violations in one state from being discovered in
another.
“We don’t know, and we can’t use that information. It’s one of the
many weaknesses of the law that we hope might be addressed,” said
Michaels.
The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board is still
completing its probe into what caused the explosion. Tesoro is
conducting a separate investigation as are the United Steelworkers and
the state Department of Labor and Industries.
– KOMO TV
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