Union Expresses Outrage that Disasters Still Occurring Amid Industry Inaction

The United Steelworkers (USW) today said that the refinery industry has failed to learn from past disasters and that its 2007 report, Beyond Texas City: The State of Process Safety in the Unionized U.S. Oil Refining Industry is more relevant than ever in light of the April 2 Tesoro explosion and fire that killed five workers and critically injured two others.

(http://assets.usw.org/our_union/oil_bargaining/beyondtexascity.pdf)

“It is totally unacceptable that the refining industry continues to fail in securing the safety of workers, surrounding communities and our nation’s energy supplies,” said USW Vice President Gary Beevers, who is in charge of the union’s oil sector. “We can no longer tolerate industry’s failure to follow OSHA and EPA regulations and its inability to learn from recurring disasters, and its refusal to commit the resources necessary to prevent these tragedies ... more