BP to implement safety recommendations

16 January 2007 16:22  [Source: ICIS news]

TORONTO (ICIS news)--BP said on Tuesday it will implement the recommendations made by an independent safety panel, which issued a report faulting BP's top management for its inadequate policies on process safety.

 

The report concludes an investigation led by former US Secretary of State James Baker into the Texas City, Texas BP refinery accident that killed 15 workers in March 2005.

 

The report calls on companies across the refining and chemicals sector to learn from the BP tragedy.

 

“We are under no illusion that the deficiencies we have identified are unique to BP,” Baker said in a statement.

 

“If other refining and chemical companies consider our recommendations and apply them, we believe that those workplaces will be safer and that future tragedies like the Texas City accident can be avoided.”

 

BP did not provide effective process safety leadership and that lack of leadership touched all levels of BP’s corporate management, the statement said.

 

The panel’s investigation found that BP mistakenly interpreted improving personal injury rates as an indication of acceptable process safety performance at its US refineries.

 

BP’s reliance on this data, combined with an inadequate process safety understanding, created a false sense of confidence that BP was properly addressing process safety risks.

 

The report makes a range of recommendations it urges BP to implement.

 

The report urges the board of directors of BP, BP’s executive management and other members of BP’s corporate management to provide effective leadership on process safety.

 

BP should establish and implement an integrated and comprehensive process safety management system that systematically and continuously identifies, reduces, and manages process safety risks at its US refineries, it added.

 

BP said that many of the panel’s recommendations are in line with its own findings.

 

The company has already taken a number of actions reflecting the panel’s recommendations, it said. After a more thorough review, BP plans additional action at its US refineries as well as applying lessons learned elsewhere.

 

The full Baker report can be found on BP’s website.

 

Shares in BP were trading on Tuesday morning at $63.77, down 87 cents on the New York Stock Exchange.

By: Stefan Baumgarten
+1 713 525 2653

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