About the Refinery
The Mobil Oil Corp. refinery, on about 750 acres in northeast Torrance, is the city’s largest taxpayer and landholder. The plant has 800 full-time workers and a variety of contractors. The refinery, which opened in 1929, was completely rebuilt in the late 1960s. It can process 125,000 barrels of crude oil daily and produce 75,000 barrels of gasoline, about 12% of the gasoline consumed in Southern California.
What Prompted the Study
The City Council hired an outside consultant, Gage-Babcock & Associates, to do a safety study after several accidents and fires at the refinery. The most spectacular was an explosion and 2-day fire in November, 1987, that injured two workers. A worker was asphyxiated in March, 1987, after falling into a tank of nitrogen. Another worker died in a fall in April, 1988.
As Gage-Babcock was beginning the study last summer, the refinery experienced its greatest number of injuries in a single day. A spark ignited hydrocarbon vapors, killing one worker and seriously burning two others. In an earlier explosion that day, eight workers were injured, two seriously.
The federal Occupational, Safety and Health Administration has conducted two investigations. The first, which dealt with the November explosion, found five “serious violations” of federal safety regulations; one of these citations is being appealed.
A separate OSHA investigation of the entire plant, which began in September, led to 100 citations of Mobil and contracting firms working at the refinery. Mobil was cited for 18 of the 53 violations that were considered serious, those “where there is a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result . . .” and where the employer knew, or could have known, of the hazard.
What the Study Found
Following are excerpts from the conclusions of the Gage-Babcock study:
In general we found that the refinery has the elements of an excellent safety program and commits considerable resources to making its operations safe. More specifically, we have a high opinion of equipment and material standards, design procedures, written safety procedures and policies, and training materials.
However, we believe that the high number of safety incidents occurring at the refinery is too high. Comparison of the numbers of reported incidents with other refineries supports this conclusion.
We believe that the high number of incidents results from poor-quality work on the part of operators, maintenance personnel and first-line supervisors. We found too many instances where these personnel did not follow company policies, procedures and training. There is a very significant difference between actual safety performance and that which would be expected if the refinery’s safety program were followed conscientiously. In addition, we found too many incidents resulting from carelessness which resulted in unsafe conditions. Further, there has been a lack of prompt management action to correct poor-quality work. . . .
In the short term, accountability for safety performance must be established. In particular, we feel that stronger and more prompt disciplinary actions should be taken when violations of policies and procedures occur. In the long term, a quality work ethic must be established that promotes safe operations. Establishing a quality work ethic is a long-term solution because it requires changing people’s (both management and labor) attitudes and approaches.
Mobil’s Response
“There are some major flaws in their analysis and the conclusions they have drawn,” refinery manager Wyman Robb said. “There are some good things in there, but it is a sloppy job, frankly.”
Robb said Gage-Babcock drew its main conclusion about lax management from a belief--based on company data--that employees had been cited for safety violations only four times in a period of more than 10 years. Robb said refinery officials were told to provide only examples of disciplinary reports. The actual number of employees subjected to written reprimands, suspensions, demotions and terminations between 1978 and 1988 is 165, Robb said.
The refinery manager also criticized Gage-Babcock for making what he termed inaccurately drawn comparisons of Mobil’s safety record with those of other refineries and said the consulting engineering firm was wrong in its analysis of the refinery’s firefighting capability.
