Safety Report Criticizes Mobil Oil Co. Refinery

A consultant’s safety report on Mobil Oil Co.’s troubled Torrance refinery blames carelessness, failure to follow safety guidelines and lax management for what the report terms an unacceptably high number of deaths, explosions, fires and other accidents at the plant in the last 10 years.

The $88,000 report by Gage-Babcock & Associates and Mittelhauser Corp., requested by the Torrance City Council and paid for by Mobil, concluded that “the number of safety incidents occurring at the refinery is too high.”

Torrance Fire Department reports, cited in the study, document 127 mishaps between 1979 and 1987, including fires, spills, vapor releases, industrial injuries, medical emergencies and odors, at the sprawling 750-acre facility, which supplies 12% of the gasoline consumed in Southern California.

Mobil officials could not be reached for comment on the report, which was released Saturday, but in the past have defended the plant’s safety record as comparable to that of other refineries in the area.

But the consultant’s report said that “comparison of the numbers of reported incidents with other refineries supports (the) conclusion” that Mobil had too many accidents.

Torrance officials on Saturday called the conclusions of the report troubling.

Mayor Katy Geissert said she was particularly concerned about the report’s contention that Torrance firefighters and Mobil employees are not prepared to handle a major release of the hazardous chemical hydrofluoric acid, which is used to boost the octane of unleaded gasoline.

City Councilman Dan Walker said that part of the report strengthened his determination to proceed with an initiative ballot measure to eliminate the use of hydrofluoric acid at the refinery.

Torrance officials asked for the consultant’s study in the wake of a series of incidents at the refinery, beginning with a Nov. 24, 1987, explosion and two-day fire in the refinery’s alkylation unit during which an estimated 100 pounds of hydrofluoric acid were released. Since then, in four separate incidents, one worker fell to his death, another was killed in an explosion, four workers were seriously burned and eight others were injured.

A safety record chart in the report compared Mobil to similar-sized Southern California refineries operated by Texaco, Unocal, Golden West and Champlin Petroleum Co. The chart lists Mobil as having the worst or second worst safety record each year from 1983 to 1988.

“We believe the high number of incidents results from poor-quality work on the part of operators, maintenance personnel and first-line supervisors,” the report said. “We found too many instances where these personnel did not follow company policies, procedures and training.”

The consultants also were critical of Mobil for failing to crack down on negligent employees.

In November, the Mobil refinery and its contractors were accused by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration of violating more than 100 safety regulations. Mobil has contested the citations, and the case is pending.