Safety inspectors cite two BP refineries 760 times for safety violations
Two refineries owned by oil giant BP account for 97% of all flagrant safety violations found in the oil refining industry by government inspectors over the past three years.
The data released in a report by the Center for Public Integrity is handily displayed in the attached infographic from Flowing Data.
Between June 2007 and February 2010, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) checked 55 oil refineries in the US. Two are owned by BP and they racked up 760 citations for “egregiously willful” safety violations. The other 53 refineries put together only received one such violation.
BP is battling a massive oil well spill in the Gulf of Mexico after an April 20 platform blast that killed 11 workers. But the firm has been under intense OSHA scrutiny since its refinery in Texas City, Texas, exploded in March 2005, killing 15 workers.
