News

An OSHA inspection has revealed more than 60 violations of safety practice at the Toledo refinery in Oregon which could cost BP more than $3 million in fines. This latest fine for BP comes just months after regulators imposed a record penalty on the company over its refinery in Texas. BP committed 42 alleged willful violations and 20 alleged serious violations for exposing workers to safety hazards. Willful violations are defined as those committed with indifference to employee safety and health, and with intentional disregard for the law. Violations included failure to provide adequate pressure relief for process units, failure to provide safeguards to prevent the hazardous accumulation of fuel in process heaters, exposing...

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Four people have been taken to hospital suffering from chemical burns after a cloud of toxic gas escaped following an explosion in a chemical vessel at approximately 12.30am on the 5th March at a factory on the river Humber near Grimsby. The casualties also inhaled toxic fumes after titanium tetrachloride gas escaped from the Cristal Global chemical plant. The estuary was closed off to shipping for several hours after the chemical leak. The incident has been contained by at least 10 fire crews who used a blanket of foam to contain the spillage. Residents in the surrounding area are not at risk from the fumes, as the gas is dissipating naturally and wind is blowing what remains of the gas cloud across rural land and out...

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Planted explosives damaged a Royal Dutch Shell PLC oil flow station in the Niger Delta but the station was not in use and was unmanned at the time of the explosion, so there were no injuries. The incident in the troubled Niger Delta marks the latest attack in a region supposedly brought under control by a government amnesty programme. This attack is believed to signal the resumption of fresh and final hostilities in the Niger Delta and beyond. Militant group, The People's Patriotic Revolutionary Force of the Joint Revolutionary Council, claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place on the 2nd March on the Kokori oil flow station, operated by a Shell subsidiary in Nigeria.The militant group warned all foreign oil companies to...

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The Majestic Hotel in Harrogate, UK once again hosted the annual HazardEx conference which was held on the 24th and 25th February 2010. The programme concentrated on the experiences of leading end-users in the oil, gas and downstream process industries where hazardous areas exist and safe operational procedures must be adopted. Speakers included: Gordon Macdonald, HSE Director of hazardous installations; Richard Lawson Head of technical regulation, BIS; and John Hodges, Head of the Explosion Safety Unit at Health and Safety Laboratories who detailed the findings of the investigation into the explosion at ICL Plastics, Glasgow. Two of the country’s leading associations – UK Petroleum Industry...