OSHA Begins Probe of Mobil Refinery Safety

After a series of explosions, fires and accidents at the Mobil refinery in Torrance that have killed three people and injured at least 12, federal safety officials have launched their first comprehensive safety inspection of an oil refinery in California.

“Federal OSHA is deeply concerned for the safety of the workers at the refinery,” said Frank Strasheim, regional administrator of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Strasheim described the 800-acre Torrance refinery as troubled.

The safety inspection began this week and will last four to six weeks. Three OSHA inspectors will review safety procedures and plant operations as well as the engineering and design of the refinery.

In addition, the inspectors will monitor the activities of contract workers, who have been involved in some of the accidents and whose attention to safety procedures has been criticized by union employees.

Wyman Robb, refinery manager, said he was not aware of any similar safety inspection in recent years at any Mobil refinery. He added that the inspection would be an inconvenience but that the oil company would cooperate.

Barbar Burr, OSHA acting area director, said Mobil had been “very cooperative.” But she added that the company had insisted on an option to stop the inspection at any point “if they feel the need for legal protection.”

“If they choose to stop the investigation at any point, then our next step would be to . . . get a search warrant,” she said.

Although the investigation is considered comprehensive, it will not include an assessment of whether the refinery should continue to use hydrofluoric acid in its alkylation process. The chemical is considered the most hazardous used at the refinery.

“All we are concerned with is how they are using it. We are concerned that they take the necessary precautions,” Burr said.

A South Coast Air Quality Management District task force is studying whether the half-dozen area refineries that use hydrofluoric acid should switch to less-dangerous sulfuric acid. Both chemicals are used to boost octane in gasoline. Torrance officials are also investigating safety at the refinery.

One of the incidents cited by OSHA as triggering the safety inspection was a massive explosion and fire in the refinery’s alkylation unit in November that led the federal safety agency to fine Mobil $5,000 for what were described as serious safety violations.

Mobil paid $4,000 in penalties. It has contested the OSHA finding that the explosion occurred because safety relief valves were not properly adjusted to handle the potential reaction between hydrofluoric acid and potassium hydroxide. Refinery officials estimate that 100 pounds of hydrogen fluoride, the gaseous form of hydrofluoric acid, were released during the incident. Refinery officials said no one was endangered by the release.

After the incident, Torrance city officials began investigating safety conditions at the refinery, and the air quality agency undertook its review of the use of hydrofluoric acid.

The other incidents cited by OSHA include two separate explosions July 15 in different areas of the refinery that killed one worker and injured 10 others.

On Aug. 5, an explosion and fire at the crude unit cooler injured two more workers.

A worker died in a fall this April, and in March, 1987, a worker was asphyxiated after he fell into a reactor vessel filled with nitrogen.

In the last year and half, safety records compiled by the Torrance Fire Department show that the refinery has been increasingly dangerous.

During the nine years ending Dec. 31, 1987, firefighters responded to 127 incidents at the refinery, including explosions, fires, industrial injuries, medical incidents, vapor releases and liquid spills. More than a fourth of the incidents in the nine-year period--35--took place in 1987.