2nd Mobil Letter Apologizes Again for Refinery Woes

For the second time in nine months, the Mobil Oil Corp. has apologized in a letter to residents near its Torrance refinery for “any inconvenience or anxiety” created by accidents at the plant.

The “Dear Neighbor” letter mailed this week to 14,000 households around the refinery comes at a time when governmental agencies are questioning just how good a neighbor the refinery is and whether its operations pose a danger to residents.

The message from Mobil refinery Manager Wyman D. Robb acknowledges that since last November, when a massive explosion and fire rocked the refinery, a number of incidents have “given you cause for concern about the safety of our operation.” But, Robb says, “safety remains the number one priority” at the plant.

Understanding Sought

Tom Gregory, a former director of safety and training at the refinery who is now handling community relations, said the letter is intended to help the public “understand what is going on here.” He said he hopes the explanation will reduce the number of anti-Mobil letters to the mayor and the City Council.

Robb noted that Mobil has “experienced three unfortunate and serious incidents in recent weeks, which included one explosion.”

The letter does not say that one worker was killed and a dozen others were injured, some seriously, in accidents on July 15 and Aug. 5 that are being investigated by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Both have previously been described as explosions and fires.

He said Mobil’s investigations of the incidents do not indicate serious deficiencies in the refinery’s safety practices.

Those practices are also being examined by OSHA investigators and a safety consultant hired by the city of Torrance. Robb said Mobil will cooperate with the safety studies and remedy any deficiencies they reveal.

Mobil was cited for five serious violations of federal safety regulations in connection with the Nov. 24 explosion, which sparked a fire that burned for two days.

Robb did not discuss the November explosion or the controversy surrounding the refinery’s use of hydrofluoric acid, which forms lethal hydrogen fluoride gas if exposed to air.

However, at the request of the Torrance Fire Department, Mobil has agreed to prepare a risk management plan for hydrofluoric acid. City Council members as well have discussed the need for an assessment of the relative risk posed by using hydrofluoric acid instead of sulfuric acid in the refining process.

In the letter, Robb attributed “the increase in the number of emergency vehicles” entering the refinery to a larger-than-normal work force building a major pollution control project. Much of that work is being done by outside contractors and their employees, the letter said.

The letter makes a point of saying that even with this larger work force, Mobil has been able to maintain “our lost work day injury rates at levels comparable to prior years.”

What the letter does not explain is that deaths, injuries and lost work days suffered by contract workers are not included in Mobil’s safety record.

Gregory said Thursday that Mobil has not asked for and does not know about reports of deaths, injuries and lost work time from its contract firms.

Worked for Contractors

The worker killed in July and all those injured in the explosions and flash fires in recent weeks worked for contractors hired by Mobil. A second worker killed in a fall at the refinery last March also worked for an outside contractor.

Officials of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union, which represents 450 Mobil employees, have blamed the accidents on inexperienced and untrained non-union contract employees. Union officials made the charge during a long strike this winter, and Mobil responded in a letter to residents at that time.

In this week’s letter, Robb said: “All contractor companies which we employ, whether they are union-represented or not, must be fully qualified in terms of skills, training, safety performance, financial responsibility, etc., before they are permitted to work at the refinery.”

He said Mobil has “full confidence” that the contractor employees can perform their jobs in a safe and efficient manner.”

The letter was mailed to homeowners and renters in an area bounded by 182nd Street, Hawthorne and Torrance boulevards and Western Avenue.

Mobil has taken additional steps to strengthen its safety programs, according to the letter.

In an interview last week, Robb said refinery officials have met with contractor representatives to discuss safety procedures. He said the amount of material covered in pre-job safety meetings has been increased, more detailed information on safety requirements has sent to contractors and more inspections have been conducted.

“We continue to believe we have a fundamentally safe operation,” Robb said. “We can’t deny that we’ve had some serious accidents, but we’re trying hard to make sure we don’t have any more of them.”