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 Workers’
safety fears at refinery
UK -- Anxious
staff at the giant Fawley oil refinery have revealed
their fears of a major accident at the plant in a
shocking new report obtained by the Daily Echo.
The workers
highlight the refinery's ageing infrastructure and lack
of maintenance among their major concerns.
Other staff at the
complex - the largest of its kind in Britain - also
admit under-reporting minor incidents, accidents and
near-misses for fear of losing their cash bonuses
received for their safety record, says the document.
In the report,
inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
conclude they had never encountered such a prominent and
pervasive blame culture at any other refining and
chemical complex in the country.
"Of particular
concern was the extremely high numbers of staff stating
that they would not be surprised if a major incident
were to occur in the near future," inspectors wrote.
Now the powerful
watchdog has given bosses of the refinery - which
handles about 300,000 barrels of crude oil a day - until
June 3 to draw up an action plan addressing their
worker's concerns.
Refinery owners
Esso and its parent company Texas-based ExxonMobil was
last year ranked the most profitable company in the
world. Yesterday it announced they were making £2.5m an
hour.
Rejected Today the
company strongly rejected any claims that Fawley was
unsafe.
A statement issued
by the firms said the report was based only on the
personal opinion of a small percentage of workers and
did not offer an objective assessment of the Fawley
site.
"Esso and
ExxonMobil Chemical at Fawley strongly reject any claims
that the Fawley site is unsafe. Fawley is the safest
refinery in the UK for both personal safety and process
safety, according to the latest figures from UKPIA (UK
Petroleum Industries Association)," the statement said.
It added: "We take
the safety of our people and of the local community
extremely seriously. We have rigorous safety procedures
in place and are regularly inspected by the Health and
Safety Executive as to the safety of our plant and
processes."
The controversial
claims come in the week Britain was plunged into an oil
crisis after workers at the Grangemouth oil refinery, in
Scotland, walked off the job over a pensions row and
farmers staged a protest outside the Stanlow oil
refinery, Cheshire, over rising fuel prices.
However, the New
Forest refinery's oil production dwarfs both that of
Grangemouth and Stanlow and one car in six in the UK
runs on Fawley fuel.
Fawley - which
turns crude oil from the North Sea, Europe and the
Middle East into products such as petrol, diesel,
aviation fuel and petrochemicals - has a workforce of
1,300 employees and 2,000 contractors.
The HSE's Human
Factors Inspection Report was the result of a two-day
audit held with about 78 employees on January 8 and 9
and a feedback meeting on January 29.
The most concerning
finding for residents living close to the refinery, on
the western shore of Southampton Water, is the fear of
some staff that ageing infrastructure is making the
plant a danger.
"Some employees
acknowledge that the degraded infrastructure and lack of
maintenance resources could result in a major accident.
"There was a lack
of surprise or even an expectation that a major accident
could occur," the report states.
One staff member
even told inspectors during a focus group that they
"would not bat an eyelid if the refinery blew up". Other
workers likened the plant to a "classic car being driven
down a motorway" or "a car run at 100 miles per hour
with no maintenance".
The refinery was
engulfed in controversy twice last year. In October,
thousands of residents were told to stay indoors after
hydrocarbon vapour began escaping from part of the huge
petrochemical plant.
Three months
earlier furious residents living in Netley complained
after smoke billowed across Southampton Water following
a fire in the refinery's steam plant.
The report also
claims that although people were encouraged to report
accidents or incidents, it seemed some staff were
under-reporting because their bonuses were linked to
safety.
"Since the reward
scheme is linked to safety eg lack of incident, it
appears to have provided individuals with an incentive
to cover up and not report minor incidents, accidents
and near-misses as otherwise they (and their team) will
be blamed for an incident and lose safety bonuses," the
report says.
"As minor
incidents/accidents are not being reported, the site may
be missing precursors to something significant.
"The prevailing
view is that when something goes wrong, the search is on
for someone (and their supervisor) to blame, the fact
that systems may be at fault appears not to feature."
Worker's
wide-ranging complaints also ranged from lack of morale
to inadequate staffing levels, endemic overtime and ad
hoc training. A fire, which occurred late last year, was
put partially down to fatigue as a result of excessive
working hours.
The report claims
the organisation's blame culture stops some employees
from raising issues and taking on additional
responsibilities or overtime.
"Some participants
felt uncomfortable raising issues, even with managers
higher than the shift leader, but others felt that the
culture is such that people don't want to raise problems
and there would be repercussions if they did," the
report states.
One worker was
quoted as saying: "(Some) managers are vindictive,
they'll get you back".
Senior staff
expressed concern that trainees were not being given
sufficient time to consolidate their training and that
they may not have enough experience of the plant to deal
with emergency situations.
There was a view
that staffing levels were adequate on paper but in
practice areas were badly staffed. This was partially
attributed to stress-related sickness absence brought
about by overtime, fatigue and the blame culture.
"There was a
general lack-lustre feeling amongst staff, a lack of
motivation compounded by fatigue and lethargy. Employees
are beginning not to care about their roles or jobs
being down to the required standard," the report states.
"One employee
suggested that they had lost the feel good factor'. Some
individuals raised concerns that the refinery was not so
desirable a place to work anymore and that they were
worried about coming to work because of safety issues.
Concern "Of
particular concern was the extremely high numbers of
staff stating that they would not be surprised if a
major incident were to occur in the near future."
The inspectors
concluded that significant work needed to be undertaken
to achieve full compliance with legal duties.
A statement from
the HSE said: "This report forms part of HSE's wider
intervention strategy at such major hazards sites. It
helps us to identify human factors issues for
consideration as part of the wider management of risk at
these sites.
"The responsibility
for managing safety at Fawley rests with the site
operators, Esso Petroleum Company Ltd and ExxonMobil
Chemical. HSE routinely carries out inspections of the
Fawley site and has an ongoing programme of
interventions, as with other such similar sites."
Statement from Esso
and ExxonMobil:
"Esso
and ExxonMobil Chemical at Fawley strongly reject any
claims that the Fawley site is unsafe.
"Fawley is the
safest refinery in the UK for both personal safety and
process safety, according to the latest figures from
UKPIA (UK Petroleum Industries Association).
"We take the safety
of our people and of the local community extremely
seriously. We have rigorous safety procedures in place
and are regularly inspected by the Health and Safety
Executive as to the safety of our plant and processes.
"The Human Factors
Inspection Report focuses on the personal opinions of a
small percentage of Fawley workers, as expressed in
group discussions chaired by the HSE. These group
discussions were held at Fawley as part of the HSE's
normal programme of visits to major industrial sites.
"We are committed
to continuously improving safety at our site. While we
welcome HSE feedback on areas of improvement, we do not
feel that the report offers an objective assessment of
the Fawley site. In response to the HSE document, we are
setting up specific action teams, containing
representatives from all levels of the organisation, to
better understand any concerns.
"We will also
continue our on-going work to make sure that all
employees and contractors on-site fully understand the
systems and resources that we have in place to
effectively manage safety. To encourage employees to
contribute freely and fully to this initiative, Fawley
management made the document available to everyone on
the site some weeks ago."
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