UNPRECEDENTED: Refinery bars OSHA from plant after spewing acid injures 2

[cali]

(02-21) 07:51 PST PACHECO -- In an unprecedented challenge, Tesoro Corp. has barred federal authorities from going inside its refinery near Martinez to investigate an incident in which two workers were burned by acid spewing from a broken pipe, The Chronicle has learned.

State officials ordered a partial shutdown of the Golden Eagle Refinery following the Feb. 12 incident after inspectors with California's workplace safety agency found numerous suspected safety violations, state officials said.

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Investigators with the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, the lead federal agency in major chemical-plant accidents, showed up a day after the incident and gained access to the refinery grounds. However, Tesoro has rebuffed federal investigators' subsequent requests to return to the refinery, agency officials said Thursday.

Tesoro officials said the Feb. 12 incident was minor and did not qualify under the rules for a federal investigation.

Safety board officials could not recall another refinery or chemical plant on U.S. soil that has challenged the board's authority since its inception in 1998.

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http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Tesoro-bars-federal-safety-agency-from-East-Bay-5254436.php

Corporations know that they ARE THE LAW.

[cali]

1. kick, kick, kick. this is pretty stunning behavior.

[Spider Jerusalem]

2. Clearly OSHA needs to get a warrant and go back with a Federal marshal, then.

[malaise]

3. WTF?????

We have this saying - play with puppy and expect to get lick.
When government officials in states or the Fed allow laws to be violated, the arrogance grows.

[cali]

4. exactly. give them an inch, they'll take a mile

if only it was give them enough rope and they'll hang themselves.

[malaise]

6. They'll hang us

with said rope

[GeorgeGist]

5. With Obama's misguided TPP ...

This will become the norm.

[JoeyT]

7. I'd be amazed if OSHA pushes it.

Despite being one of those regulatory agencies that anyone with a modicum of sense ought to realize is useful, OSHA is pretty much a joke and everyone knows it. That's what deregulation, weakening enforcement of existing regulation, and not purging the crazy right wing moles does for you.

[cali]

8. exactly. OSHA, never strong to begin with continues to weaken

[Hoppy]

15. The safety board will pursue.

When I took the O.S.H.A. 30 hour course, the information was that the fines would be more strictly enforced if there was not compliance with requested inspections. There are time when an inspection can be delayed for a reasonable amount of time.

Regarding the willingness to pursue, logon to the O.S.H.A. website and read the list of fines that are levied every month.

[JoeyT]

17. Yeah, I've got a 30 hour O.S.H.A. too.

In theory, they could bring the pain. In practice? Probably not. I've never seen OSHA inspectors interested in anything more than showing they inspected.

FWIW, my job is as a contract employee on shutdowns in industrial settings. So I've seen a lot of inspections of chemical plants, paper mills, power plants, etc. I've literally watched an OSHA inspector step around a pile of asbestos, step over a huge unmarked hole in the floor, walk past multiple handrails with gaps in them where they'd rusted through, ignore a bunch of guys working in a confined space without a hole watch or atmospheric monitor, and disregard a guy working eight steps up a ladder without a harness to get to a mill bigwig to shake his hand. We were watching him so closely because we thought all the safety violations might make him mad enough to punch the guy. Nope! All clear. Keep at it fellas.

The same culture of "Don't interfere with the jaaaaahb creators!" that spread through much of the federal government has infested OSHA too.

[sakabatou]

9. Once again, corporations can get away with nearly anything

[kelliekat44]

10. The laws and regulations must be enforced here or the beginning of our fascist state happens here.

The PEOPLE must demand action and investigation. Maybe the owners should be locked up?

[Sheldon Cooper]

11. Corporations have always been allowed to bar OSHA from entering their facilities.

This is not new behavior. It's a pretty stupid thing to do, but some companies consider it a strategic risk and do it anyway.

[TheKentuckian]

12. If the tremendous muscle the government has cannot be flexed in situations like this

Then clearly it only exists to serve as those folks security forces not ours in in real way. The Security apparatus is protect wealth and the wealthy. Directly at the expense, suffering, and deaths of the people.

[Aerows]

13. If you own a politician

just about anything is legal.

[One_Life_To_Give]

14. Not OSHA, US Chemical Safety Board

Looks like this company had a previous run in with the Chemical Safety Board at another facility.

[James48]

16. WTF?

That refinery has almost five hundred members of the United Steel Workers, Local 5 who work there.

http://www.usw5.org/

You would think that the Union would be saying something if this is correct.

Hey, Local 5- do you need some help over there? Just say the word!

[jsr]

18. Sounds like OSHA is more toothless than a restaurant health inspector

Pathetic.

[joeybee12]

19. Yup, they know they can get away with this...

Expect more corporations to start pulling this sh*t.