Talking the Talk
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Process Safety goes by many different names, such as integrity management or technical safety, and BP used every one. They appeared to have created a strong safety culture. Process safety documents like the Lessons learned from the Longford explosion made there way to various members of plant leadership. The plant leadership team had two members who were apparently strong advocates for process safety. Unfortunately, while BP may have had numerous catchphrases relating to process safety this did not translate into a strong culture for process safety at Texas City.
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1/1/2004–Integrity and Assurance…Learning from our Mistakes
VIEW HIGHLIGHT - DOWNLOAD DOCUMENT *Key Term: PSM: According to the OSHA regulation for Process Safety (29 C.F.R. 1910.199), the goal of Process Safety Management is to prevent or minimize the consequences, including fire and explosion, of catastrophic releases of toxic, reactive, flammable, or explosive chemicals. 11/14/2002–E-mail from Lee Valentine Re: Pre-Read PSM Organization Meeting VIEW HIGHLIGHT - DOWNLOAD DOCUMENT 6/13/2001–Presentation by Bill Ralph: Introduction to PSM VIEW HIGHLIGHT - DOWNLOAD DOCUMENT 11/5/2000–E-Mail from David Pierpoline Re: Lessons from Longford VIEW HIGHLIGHT - DOWNLOAD DOCUMENT *Key Term: Longford: On September 25, 1998 1998 the Esso (Exxon) natural gas plant in Longford, Australia exploded, killing two workers and injuring eight others. The numerous findings from the various investigations and court cases were published in a book called Lessons From Longford by Andrew Hopkins. The book was later summarized and its findings sent to various BP employees at Texas City. Don Parus – Plant Manager at BP Texas City Parus looked to Kathleen Lucas and Joe Barnes to provide Process Safety knowledge to the leadership team. WATCH VIDEO - DOWNLOAD DEPOSITION (10MB) DOWNLOAD TRANSCRIPT 1 - DOWNLOAD TRANSCRIPT 2 |
Walking the Walk
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While the process safety slogans generated by BP were top notch, they did little to instill the value of process safety in the management of the refinery. The top two people at the plant with responsibilities for process safety (the Head of Safety and the Head of the Process Safety Committee) did not have any formal training in process safety. The one man at the plant with the necessary skills and training in process safety did not have a voice in the leadership team and could not get any additional resources to improve process safety at Texas City. It is little wonder why the plant had a string of process safety incidents over a decade long. BP’s safety slogans are not unlike another company that had its own major accident nearly a century ago. BP could have learned a lot from prior process safety accidents such as at the Esso plant in Longford. The Lessons from Longford made their way around Texas City several times, but apparently the knowledge was never retained. Hopefully, the Lessons from Texas City will be learned by future generations—the sad truth is that these lessons appear eerily similar to the lessons they should have already learned.
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Kathleen Lucas – Operations Manager at BP Texas City
No formal training in Process Safety Management. WATCH VIDEO - DOWNLOAD DEPOSITION 1 (2MB) DOWNLOAD TRANSCRIPT 1 - DOWNLOAD TRANSCRIPT 2 Joe Barnes – Head of HSSE at BP Texas City No formal training in Process Safety Management. WATCH VIDEO - DOWNLOAD DEPOSITION (49MB) DOWNLOAD TRANSCRIPT Bill Ralph – Head of Process Safety at BP Texas City Warnings that not enough attention was being paid to process safety. WATCH VIDEO - DOWNLOAD DEPOSITION (51MB) DOWNLOAD TRANSCRIPT 1 - DOWNLOAD TRANSCRIPT 2 5/6/2005–E-mail from Bill Ralph Re: Texas City Process Safety Incidents VIEW HIGHLIGHT - DOWNLOAD DOCUMENT 2/25/2005–E-mail from Johnny Clearly Re: Titanic Safety Presentation VIEW HIGHLIGHT - DOWNLOAD DOCUMENT 1/11/2005–E-Mail from Linda Gioja Re: Lessons from Longford VIEW HIGHLIGHT - DOWNLOAD DOCUMENT |