BP Agrees to Pay $50 Million Fine in Texas City Refinery Explosion

BP to pay record fine of $50 million for safety violations at BP Texas City refinery with regard to 2005 Texas refinery explosion that killed 15 plant workers and injured many more. Fine may be largest in OSHA history.

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Truck Driver Critically Injured in San Antonio Refinery Explosion

A truck driver, who was seriously injured in an explosion at a San Antonio refinery, continues to remain in a critical condition. Investigations into the explosion are going on, but so far there is no information on what caused the massive explosion last week.

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Texas City Refinery Explosion Leaves One Dead

An explosion at the Valero Energy Corporation refinery in Texas City has killed one person and seriously injured two. The explosion occurred at last week.

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Massive Explosion at San Antonio, Texas AGE Refining Inc. Oil Refinery

At 11:30 this morning, a massive explosion took place at the AGE Refining Inc. oil and fuel refinery in San Antoion, Texas. A massive fire remains out of control in southeast San Antonio, resulting in evacuations and the strongest firefighting efforts. An 18-wheeler that was refueling at the 13,500-barrel-a-day plant owned by AGE Refining Inc. exploded. There were 100 employees at the plant working at the time of the Texas Refinery Explosion. At least one witness said he recalls a previous fire at this refinery about two years ago.

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Workers Commemorate Anniversary of Deadly BP Refinery Explosion in Texas City

Yesterday marked the first anniversary of the BP refinery explosion in Texas City that killed 15 workers and left more than 180 workers injured. Obviously, it's an extremely poignant moment not just for the families of those who were killed and those injured, but also for those of us who represented the victims as Houston refinery explosion lawyers in the litigation that followed. The-Houston refinery explosion lawyers at Schechter McElwee Shaffer and Harris represent victims of oil refinery explosions around the state of Texas.

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BP Facing up to $3 Million in Fines in Ohio Refinery Explosion

Just months after BP was slapped with a $87.4 million fine for its failure to fix serious safety issues at its Texas City refinery, the oil giant is looking at up to $3 million in fines for violations at its Toledo, Ohio refinery. OSHA has announced that it has found dozens of violations at the Ohio refinery. For more information on your Refinery Explosion issues, please contact us through our web contact form or email us at info@smslegal.com. Someone will receive your email today.

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Plant Explosion in Seabrook, Texas Injures Two Workers

An early morning explosion at the American Acryl plant in Seabrook injured two workers, and caused great anxiety in the local community. Witnesses said there was a large fireball accompanied by massive blast. The plant where the exposition occurred handles toluene, which is a petroleum-based compound. Exposure to toluene even in small doses can cause fatigue, memory loss and weakness.

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OSHA Refinery Sweep Shows Why Explosions and Accidents are so Frequent

As Texas refinery explosion lawyers, we have been very concerned about the corrective measures that federal regulators seem to take after accidents and injuries have occurred, instead of taking preventative measures to avert any adverse events . The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has a poor record of refinery inspections. In the last 10 years, the agency has conducted only a handful of inspections for the 150-odd refineries in the country.

So, as Texas refinery explosion attorneys, we weren't surprised when a nationwide sweep of oil refineries turned up far more violations than OSHA regulators expected. According to the Wall Street Journal, the agency inspected 86 refineries. It has, so far, found 930 violations and issued $4.8 million in citations. The OSHA National Emphasis Program or NEP was launched in 2007 to inspect oil refineries.  The initiative came after the agency found that over 15 years, the country's oil refineries accounted for the largest number of fatal accidents. Most of these accidents were linked to fires and explosions that typically caused the higher number of serious injuries and deaths.

These high numbers of violations were probably no surprise to those who lived in the neighborhood of an oil refinery in Utah, where an explosion last month damaged several houses. The explosion at the Silver Eagle refinery near Salt Lake City was the second this year.  In January, the refinery was the scene of a fire that seriously injured at least 4 people.  The Silver Eagle refinery has a history of fires, with recent incidents occurring in 2003, 2005 and 2007.

Refinery explosions are a major source of concern because of their huge potential for catastrophic injuries and fatalities.  In Texas, we are constantly reminded of how the people who work at these refineries continue to be at risk from hazardous conditions. Many of Texas' refineries are quite literally, ticking time bombs waiting to go off.  The Texas refinery explosion lawyers at SMSH would like to see more initiative and less foot-dragging from OSHA.

Please contact Matt Shaffer via e-mail at mshaffer@smslegal.com or toll-free 24/7 at (800) 282-2122 to get a free evaluation of your refinery accident case from a lawyer with years of experience handling these cases.  You can also submit an online contact form and expect a quick response from SMSH Lawyers.

BP Fined $87 Million for Violations in Texas City Refinery Explosion

As Texas refinery explosion lawyers, we had represented 10 victims of the deadly blast at BP's Texas City refinery, and have since been monitoring BP's  efforts to salvage its reputation after the explosion.  Those efforts hit a road block last week, when the Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined the company $87.4 million in penalties for failing to make safety corrections at the refinery.

 

The blast in September 2005 left 15 people dead, and injured 170 workers. That year, BP paid a $21.3 million to OSHA, and promised to make safety corrections at the refinery over the next four years.  The company claimed it had invested more than a billion dollars in safety improvements at the facility. OSHA has not been too impressed with the way BP has corrected the violations, and has slapped the oil giant with the new fine.

 

Soon after the Texas City refinery explosion, an investigation by the Chemical Safety Board determined that BP officials had cut down on safety measures at the plant n order to cut costs and that this was one of the main contributing causes of the tragedy. In 2007, the company agreed to pay the Department of Justice an additional of fine of $50 million in settlement of criminal charges arising from the explosion. Texas refinery explosion attorneys have long been familiar with BP's poor safety reports, and its promises to enhance safety measures at its plant have become something of a joke.

 

 At the time, the tragedy had also highlighted OSHA's preference to jump in and penalize companies only after workers had been killed in accidents, over placing effective deterrents that could prevent such accidents in the first place. The fine seems to be OSHA's way of conveying to BP that the agency is monitoring the company and its safety processes, and will not be satisfied until the company makes the solid safety improvements it promised post-2005.

 

The Texas refinery explosion lawyers at Schechter Shaffer McElwee &Harris represent victims injured in refinery explosions and families who have lost loved ones in such catastrophic refinery accidents, helping them recover the compensation they rightfully deserve.