The panel, led by former US Secretary of State James Baker, was set up to probe an explosion at BP’s Texas City refinery, which killed 15 workers and injured about 170 others on March 23, 2005.
The 374-page report, released yesterday, heavily criticised the lack of a rigorous safety culture at the company’s US operations and said it contributed to the Texas explosion, the worst US industrial accident in 10 years.
“Instances of a lack of operating discipline, toleration of serious deviations from safe operating practices, and apparent complacency towards serious process safety risks existed at each of the US refineries,” the panel said.
“BP has not provided effective process safety leadership in making certain its management and US refining workforce understand that is expected of them regarding safety performance.”
It said the company tended to have a short-term focus in its US refining operations and said the US refineries lacked a common safety culture guided by clear expectations from management.
But the panel did concede that the problems it found were not unique to BP and called on other oil companies to also re-examine their safety practices.
It recommended the oil giant strengthen accountability at all levels of management and create a new system to identify and manage safety risks. The company also needs to engage an independent monitor to report annually to the board of directors on the implementation of the recommendations for five years, it said.
BP, which has also been beset by several other problems at its US operations, including oil spills in Alaska and accusations of market manipulation, said it would take on the recommendations.
Chief executive Lord John Browne, who last week accelerated his departure from the company by more than a year, said it was doing everything in its power to stop another tragic accident happening again.
“Our progress has been encouraging but there is much more to do,” Browne said.
“Members of our refining leadership team will be meeting with the panel within the week to address how to implement those recommendations.”
