OREGON, Ohio — Federal investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor have cited BP Products North America for "serious violations" and proposed over $150,000 in fines after finding training and operational deficiencies contributed to the September 2022 BP-Husky refinery explosion that claimed two workers' lives.
In a press release, representatives from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) said an investigation determined a flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture called "naphtha" was released into the air when workers attempted to correct rising liquid levels in a fuel gas mix drum. Opening the valves to regulate the overfill caused the naphtha to enter the refinery's fuel gas system, where it ignited.
This incident triggered an explosion, killing two workers: brothers Ben Morrissey, 32, and Max Morrissey, 34, both of Oregon.
In a statement from United Steel Workers Local 1-346:
"The USW appreciates OSHA’s work in investigating the deaths of two of our union brothers at the BP-Husky Toledo refinery. While no penalties or fines could ever make up for the lost human lives, we welcome their findings and their efforts to hold BP accountable. Moving forward, our union remains committed to working with OSHA and Cenovus, the facilities new owner, to ensure this type of tragedy never happens again."
OSHA investigators are citing BP Products for failing to adequately respond to the leak. Investigators said operators responding to the naphtha release asked refinery authorities to implement shutdown procedures. According to OSHA, BP Products failed to do this and did not clearly define conditions for the emergency shutdown of the crude tower.
Investigators also determined BP Products failed to pre-emptively mitigate the explosion with adequate worker training.
According to the press release, the agency found BP Products failed the following training and operational procedures:
- Train operators to identify the presence of naphtha during an upset condition.
- Develop and implement safe work practices for responding to upset conditions.
- Document design for pressure safety valves, including for an overpressure scenario.
- Address hazards of overfilling process vessels, and safeguards needed to protect against an overfill.
- Evaluate for engineering or administrative controls for draining process equipment during upset conditions.
- Address human factors with the operation of the inside control board screen loading delays.
- Ensure process hazard assessments were accurate with respect to level indicator safeguards.
OSHA cited BP Products for 10 "serious" violations and one "other-than-serious" violation of the U.S. Department of Labor's process safety procedures for highly hazardous materials. The agency also proposed $156,250 in penalties.
"The penalty amounts issued in this case in no way reflects the values of these two gentlemen's lives," OSHA Area Director Todd Jensen said. "And these penalties are set by law and there's only so much we can do as far as how high or how low penalties can be."
OSHA issued a formal citation to BP Products on Monday. According to the citation, the company has 15 working days from receiving the citations to comply, contest or request an informal conference with Jensen. During the informal conference, BP representatives can present "evidence or views which [they] believe would support an adjustment to the citation or penalty."
Since the fatal fire, the refinery has not been operational. On Feb. 28, Calgary, Canada-based Cenovus Energy announced it completed its purchase of the remaining 50% stake of the BP-Husky Toledo Refinery.
Even though Cenovus owned half of the refinery at the time of the explosion, they will not face any citations or fines because BP was the operator of the refinery at the time.
Following the purchase, the facility was renamed the Cenovus Toledo Refinery.
Cenovus said they expect the refinery to reopen in May.
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