Following the recent OSHA announcement alleging 'extensive and serious violations by BP at Texas City, John Bresland, Chairman of US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has issued a strongly worded statement in which he expresses concerns about BP's safety culture.
In the statement Bresland states "Whilst these OSHA citations are not yet final, they are of great concern to me because they strongly suggest that BP has yet to achieve an effective safety culture with regard to process safety management.
Bresland also expresses concern about on-going problems across the U.S. Refinery Industry "Whilst OSHA reported that a potential for another catastrophic accident remains at B.P. Texas City, the CSB has found that safety problems continue across the U.S. Refinery Industry".
Whilst the CSB is focused on the industry in the U.S. it is fair to say that process safety management concerns exist across the industry and across the globe. Some organisations are doing excellent work in this area, whilst others still need to improve.
Most importantly, organisations need to have clearly defined accountabilities for process safety at board level. This means having someone with real professional expertise in operations and process safety, with the authority and capability to drive an effective PSM programme. Accidents such as Texas City must not be allowed to happen again but as things stand, the risk remains very real.
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