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HOUSTON (AP) - The U.S. agency responsible for worker safety failed to inspect plants with enough care and frequency to prevent an accident like the 2005 explosion at BP's Texas City refinery that killed 15 people and injured 170, the worst U.S. industrial accident since 1990, a government report said Tuesday.
Companies have plenty of safeguards for individual workers' safety, but have a potentially deadly lack of sound procedures to measure process safety, according to the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, which released the report.
"Process safety programs to protect the lives of workers and the public deserve the same level of attention, investment and scrutiny as companies now dedicate to managing their financial controls," CSB Chairwoman Carolyn W. Merritt said at a news conference on the agency's final report into the March 23, 2005, explosion in Texas City.
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