Cal/OSHA and Chevron have reached a settlement agreement for a comprehensive plan that will improve safety at the Chevron Richmond refinery and for surrounding communities.
The agreement resolves Chevron’s appeal of citations issued by Cal/OSHA on January 30, 2013, following an investigation into a fire that occurred at the Richmond refinery on August 6, 2012. Cal/OSHA cited Chevron for 17 workplace safety and health violations, including six serious and nine willful in nature.
On August 6, 2012, a large fire erupted at the refinery at about 6:15 PM. Flames were seen issuing from at least two of the refinery’s towers. Contra Costa Health Services responded by notifying residents shelter in place. BART shut down local service. Initial reports estimated that 11,000 people sought treatment at area hospitals, and later reports placed the number above 15,000 people. Six employees that were present at the scene of the fire suffered varying degrees of injury.
Cal/OSHA immediately launched an investigation into the fire and the leak repair procedures throughout the refinery, and found that Chevron did not follow the recommendations of its own inspectors and metallurgical scientists to replace the corroded pipe that ultimately ruptured and caused the fire. They also found that Chevron did not follow its own emergency shutdown procedures when the leak was identified, and did not protect its employees and employees of Brand Scaffolding who were working at the leak site. There were also violations in Chevron’s overall implementation of its own “process safety management” (PSM) procedures, required by Cal/OSHA of all refineries. Chevron appealed the Cal/OSHA citations.
In 2013, the company pleaded no contest to six charges in connection with the fire, and agreed to pay $2 million in fines and restitution. The charges were filed by the California Attorney General’s Office and the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office, including failing to correct deficiencies in equipment and failing to require the use of certain equipment to protect employees from potential harm.
The negotiated Cal/OSHA settlement requires Chevron to institute the following extraordinary measures to ensure process safety at the Richmond refinery:
– Replace all carbon steel piping that transports corrosive liquids with chrome-alloy piping, which has better corrosion resistance, at an estimated cost of $15 million.
– Develop and implement criteria and procedures, at an estimated cost of $5 million, to monitor equipment to alert operators when equipment should be replaced.
– Provide specialized, hands-on training on incident command situational awareness and hazard recognition for all Chevron Fire Department personnel at the Richmond refinery with rank of lieutenant and above. The training will include at least three hours of instruction and focus on emergency response.
– Provide at least eight hours of in-person training on process safety management for operators at the refinery beyond the training that is already provided.
– Continue its collaboration with the United Steelworkers in order to meet the training requirements imposed by the new refinery safety regulation pending approval by the OAL.
– Donate $200,000, in addition to any monies already donated in 2016, to the Regional Occupational Program in Richmond, a job-readiness course offered by the Contra Costa County Office of Education in partnership with Chevron to help prepare students for jobs in the petrochemical and related industries.
– Pay the citation penalties originally proposed by Cal/OSHA in January 2013 ($782,700), plus an additional $227,300.
Cal/OSHA agrees to withdraw nine of the 17 violations cited. The withdrawn citations include four willful-serious category violations, three serious and two general in nature. It will amend five of the remaining eight violations cited,