And, L&I has imposed a $2.4-million fine for what it called “willful” and “serious” state safety violations.
“If Tesoro had tested their equipment appropriately and had followed their other safety requirements, we believe that they would have found the cracks that caused this explosion and, either by replacing the equipment or repairing it, prevented this from happening,” said Dr. Michael Silverstein, assistant director, Division of Occupational Safety and Health at a news conference Monday in Mount Vernon.
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Lynn Westfall, a spokesman for the San Antonio-based company, declined Monday to comment on the investigation or fine. Tesoro has 15 days to appeal. "We're going to review the citation very thoroughly and continue to have a dialogue with L&I on areas where we might disagree," he added.
A heat exchanger at the refinery ruptured around 12:30 a.m., April 2, 2010, releasing hydrocarbon vapor which almost immediately ignited. Seven workers, five men and two women, died as a result. It is the worst industrial disaster in the 37 years that L&I has been enforcing the state’s workplace safety law, the Washington Industrial Safety and Health Act.
L&I said its inspectors found that Tesoro disregarded a host of workplace safety regulations, continued to operate failing equipment for years, postponed maintenance, inadequately tested for potentially catastrophic damage and failed to adequately protect their workers from significant risk of injury and death.
Tesoro’s lengthy list of willful violations include failing to inspect equipment consistent with recognized engineering practices and industry standards, failing to test for cracks and other defects in equipment prone to damage from thermal fatigue, chemical exposure, and failing to implement its own corrosion awareness and management program.
Other willful violations were cited because Tesoro also failed to repair equipment, as with the leaks on the heat exchangers; did not have start-up procedures for the heat exchangers that clearly described the hazards workers would face; and failed to ensure workers involved in starting up the heat exchangers were properly trained.
Among the serious violations, Tesoro was cited for failing to ensure fire brigade members were properly trained and failing to ensure emergency communications were coordinated by a single incident commander.
A willful violation is a category of violation where an employer knowingly violates a rule and is plainly indifferent to correcting it, while a serious violation is one involving an instance where there is a substantial probability of serious injury or death.
“Our expectation is that in the coming weeks, we will work with Tesoro to improve their safety and health program so that work at their plant can begin again safely,” Schurke said.