Document 9J2evmjVpZ0J2r856JGvD5vJ3

PLAINTIFF'S EXHIBIT (line** and ihjury in petroleiimjrefining per 100 employees^. 1077 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 5.3 4.8 4.8 5.5 5.8- -,.4.4 ' 5.0^ ... (Source: CsHfomla Department o) Industrie) Relations UPRC-1S1 Type of business flins@ os injuw i pr 160 Meet product manufacturing; l Trucking | Residential building construction Furniture manufacturing 31.8 18.fr IS - 17.! r-. b i-1 Food storee . . If . j f; Cfwmteal jr manufacturing . Itfi' $&.: ] L Newspaper . [ pubBahlng.. ; -*.3 j . .igjgggp, j [' Retrofeunv refining..- j,' Bapktogfr- H 1Aircraft manufacturing- ~ - : *Bessd on reports cosseted by CeSitomlr*. . Dsoertmsnt or Industrie! Relations tor 1983. Danis Berber/Staff photographer How safe are refinery workers? By W@rr@n Rebsk Stuff writer A gas explosion at an oil refinery l^lls a truck driver who inadvertently opens. the wrong valva. Five workers die and more than 40 others are injured after an explosion and fire caused by a ruptured pipe at another refinery. A worker is seriously burned by a flash fire that erupts as he and two co-workers finish installing a new fuel Una Tfer accidents, all of whltST occurred at refineries in the South Bay within the past two months, raise anew questions about the safety of the area's vast petroleum refining Industry. Bespit statistics that show refining to be one of the safest manufacturing activities in the state, questions have been raised about the quality of maintenance at the plants and stats rules governing minimum safety poli cies. Union officials have charged repeatedly the past several years that safety f been compromised by industry policies that have phased oat ualoa workers on mainten ance Jobs in favor -if outside construction Drtsa, Meanwhile, new state regulations drafted to replace existing refinery safety policies, which In soma cases are decades old, have bam moving slowly through the bureaucracy, raising the ire of even industry officials. Yet people both in and out of the Industry agree that petroleum refining has a solid safety record. "Obviously, when something goes wrong in a refinery it can be catastrophic," said Tom Butler, a state safety expert who has helped probe many refinery accidents. "The potential is high, but statistically the injury and Ulness of workers at refineries is very low" "Refineries are safe,9 said John Slggson, a 15-year oil refinery veteran. "What causes the problems are the people working In them." Statistically, the number of Illness and in juries par oil refinery worker is much lower than most other types of manufacturing. While the average number of cases of illness and injury among California manufacturing impanies in 1983 was 16.7 per ICO workers, oil Industry reported a rate of 3 per IK) rorkers, according to the state Deparment Refinery / AS .a *; L. ft . i., SAFETY & LOSS CONTROL DEPT, : CHG 01634 WT7?t&oLmos.$ CH/W-002696 West Xioasi, mu^w -----------checks of critical piping each year, extensive training for workers and .periodic review by corporate safety engineers. Advancements in electronics also have allowed refinery oper ators to improve their control of super-heated refining processes, heading off problems before they become critical. Walker said. "I have to admit that the com panies have a lot of good training and safety programns," Siggson said. "They are really big about A st done by ai^mu mi..-.--- last yea. on the chances of a major chemical accident in the Loe An geles generally gave refineries -a! high safety ranking. Ti "Where the risk could be greatest- in a refinery, there was a sufficient amount of money going into safety' precautions,* said Eugene F" Calafato, one of the report's au thors. "You can never devise a pre** ventative maintenance schedule that can catch every equipment failure.* ^ I CH/W-002697