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Parent Category: Safety Info Posts

Category: Chemical Process Safety (PSM/RMP)

Published: 13 August 2015

Cal/OSHA today issued 19 citations to a refinery for workplace safety and health violations following an investigation into the February explosion at the company’s Torrance refinery that injured four workers. The proposed penalties total $566,600.  Eighteen of the citations were classified as serious due to a realistic possibility of worker death or serious injury. Six of these serious violations were also classified as willful because Cal/OSHA found that the refinery did not take action to eliminate known hazardous conditions at the refinery and intentionally failed to comply with state safety standards.  The blast on February 18 was the result of a hydrocarbon release from the refinery’s fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) unit into its electrostatic precipitator (ESP).  The hydrocarbons ignited inside the ESP, causing the unit to explode. Eight workers were decontaminated after the incident, and four were sent to hospitals for treatment of minor injuries. Cal/OSHA’s investigation concluded the following:

• A 2007 safety review uncovered concerns about flammable vapor leakage in the ESP. Management knew of potential fire or explosion hazards as a result of the leakage, and failed to correct the danger.
• An incident response team, which included refinery senior management, was aware of a leaking spent slide valve on the FCC unit before the accident occurred.
• The FCC unit had not been working properly for as many as nine years prior to the incident. There was no functional pressure transmitter and as a result, the refinery was unable to monitor hydrocarbon pressure buildup in the unit.
• There was no written operating procedure for placing the FCC unit in hot standby, which is a state between startup and shutdown that can be compared to working on an idling car.

Cal/OSHA issued an order prohibiting use of the FCC unit on February 18, and that order remains in effect until the refinery can demonstrate that the unit is safe to operate.  Here is a breakdown of the citations:

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