BP Nears Settlements of Civil Suits in Texas Refinery Explosion

By Brian Vargo

Published on July 22, 2005

BP's urgency in settling these cases may be due to allegations that the company's management ignored warnings of unsafe conditions by union workers. Compounding problems for BP, management initially responded to the explosion by blaming low and medium ranking workers for the explosion, sparking an angry backlash from workers.

Many lawyers working with victims of the accident describe the cases against BP to "not defensible," prompting BP's swift action to settle with victims

Mihoff, a Huston lawyer representing the families of five workers killed in the explosion explained to the Huston Chronicle that, "The strengths of our cases are what appears to be a conscious decision to ignore safety in favor of saving money with respect to the project to install a flare, the decision to locate the trailer in a highly dangerous area and the repeated failure to properly train employees and enforce safety."

Reports state that Federal officials in 1992 had warned BP that the refinery's vent stacks could be hazardous. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined BP and recommended that the stacks be equipped with flare systems that could safely burn away excess materials. BP never made these necessary changes, which could have prevented the catastrophe.

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