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.