Well they have only had since 2005 to fix their safety problems at the BP Texas City refinery. Yes it was 2005 when 15 people were killed and 170 people were injured at the BP refinery in Texas City.
The fine at that time was the record breaker of $26,000,000.00 and now OSHA has charged them with an extra $87 million in fines because they have still not fixed the safety problems at the refinery.
Well you say what is the problem? Could it possibly be that their pants are too big for their butt. Yes that is what I said; a huge corporation that can’t handle the requirements of staying in business.
Back in the day, when I worked at a chemical factory our Company President said that we did not have a right to operate; we have the privilege to operate and that privilege is given to us by the citizens of our nation.
I think that BP is a great company that needs to step back and regroup and rethink their priorities at their factories. First of all it is absolutely mandated that the company make a safe place for the employees to work. It is also very important for the company to take care of their most valuable asset, their employees.
Since this is a refinery where millions of gallons of chemicals are processed every day so we also have the environment to worry about. The one thing that separates America from the rest of the world is that we have rules and regulations that are actually enforced. Wow what an original idea, I wish I had thought of that.
Most (most but not all) Americans go about basically following the rule of law every day. If this were not true it would be utter chaos. Other countries just talk about it and go ahead and do what they want. Thus the chaos that we see around the globe.
Maybe these guys think like our Congressmen, Senators and President, they can just make up their own rules (laws) no matter whether they make sense or not. Then if it don’t work out they just blame the other political party. The difference is that OSHA is an federal agency that wants to to what is right.
These are professional men and women who see a wrong and try to make it right. These dedicated employees try their very best to understand and have patience, but when it is needed they can become the guardian angel of the worker in America and carry a big stick.
Can you imagine how many rules BP must have broken for OSHA to inflect this huge amount of fines? I would think that they have lost their privilege to operate don’t you?
What could they be thinking? Do they still want to do business? Do they give a rip at all about their employees? Or are their pants just to big.
My advice, BP you need to go back to the drawing board and rethink your way of business and maybe just maybe you need to down size your pants.
Just my opinion
Joe
