BY JIM ALTENBERG
MARTÍNEZ, California - Workers had demanded that the No.
50 crude unit at the Tosco Avon refinery here be shut down to
safely replace a leaking naphtha pipe in the days prior to
the massive fire February 23 that killed four maintenance
workers. The pipe, which was isolated by closed valves and
believed to be empty, turned out to be full of naphtha, which
spilled out onto hot pipes below and ignited.
Oil was being processed through the crude unit at the time.
Five workers on scaffolds alongside the crude distillation tower were engulfed in flames. Ricardo Enríquez, a scaffold builder and member of the Carpenters union, was killed immediately.
Over the following three days, three more workers died from massive burns received in the blast: Ernie Pofahl, a boilermaker and member of the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers (PACE); scaffold builder Rollin Blue; and Ironworker Raynold Rodacker. Another PACE member, pipefitter Steve Duncan, remains in the hospital with multiple fractures and burns.
"There's a lot more than meets the eye that you're hearing," Anthony Creggett, a head operator in the unit, told reporters February 26. "We requested [the crude unit] be shut down. I was shot down. The decisions that came for the plant came from the top, and they trickle down. This accident could have been avoided."
Creggett said that after the proposal to shut the unit was rejected, he worked on a plan to ensure the naphtha line was empty by draining it into a barrel that would be sucked out by a vacuum truck. "I was in the process of doing that when I had someone question me and say `No, we're going to go a different route.' " Workers then cut into the line. A company report to county health officials stated that 100 gallons of naphtha flowed out of the six-inch diameter line when it was opened.
Tosco: a long, bad safety record
In the wake of the fire, a widespread discussion about the
safety of the refinery has broken out across the Bay Area.
The refinery's poor safety record is well-known. A huge
explosion in the hydrocracker unit killed an operator and
injured 46 other people in January 1997.
There were furnace explosions in the No. 3 crude unit last August, and in a naphtha hydrotreater in August 1992. An operator was badly burned with hot heavy oil when an expansion joint failed in a vacuum unit in 1994. A worker was killed in 1989 when static electricity caused an explosion where a vacuum truck was being run, and another died in 1983 when a hot oil pipe broke open, leading to an enormous fire in the catalytic cracking unit.
And these are just the major disasters that become known to the public. Tosco has been cited more often for air pollution violations than any other Bay Area refinery, including those much larger than it.
More than 500 people attended the funerals of Pofahl and Blue February 27, including many workers from Avon.
An important side of the discussion around safety is over the responsibility of workers to shut down process units and unsafe jobs in the face of company pressures to keep production going. Creggett said his efforts to enforce safe procedures were overruled by the company.
Company officials point to a piece of paper all operators sign saying they have the authority to shut down unsafe work in order to pin blame for the disaster back on the operator. "[Creggett] has no excuse for not accepting responsibility for whatever work is under his control," said Tosco public relations spokesperson Linda Saltzman. Some workers in the plant and at a February 27 Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors meeting echoed the company, noting that no work permit can be issued without the unit operator's signature.
Pressing the company campaign to charge one or more workers with causing the fire, Tosco Corporation chief executive officer Thomas O'Malley told a March 2 meeting of the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors that the real issue was "personal responsibility. The single most important issue is to get individuals to act in a responsible manner."
Creggett actually spoke out at what began as a routine news conference February 26 in front of the plant featuring company and government officials. After the officials' statements, Creggett simply stepped up to the microphones and cameras and explained what was really taking place. He told reporters that company lawyers had warned him to be careful what he said to California Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigators, who "drilled" him late into the night February 25. "I told them I'm not going to be your fall guy," he said.
Many Tosco operators have been calling Creggett at home to express their solidarity with him and thank him for standing up. They reject the company's long-standing practice of attempting to discipline a worker any time an accident occurs. Most are hesitant to be quoted in the press, due to pressure from the company.
While no one seeks to avoid taking responsibility for conditions on their units, workers throughout the plant point out that the work load imposed upon operators makes the preparation of maintenance work and detailed review of work conditions very difficult. Understaffing of the units makes mistakes and accidents inevitable.
Smaller workforce, no fire department
The No. 50 crude unit at Avon is run by one person, who is
responsible for running the process controls; making sure
operating equipment such as pumps, furnaces, compressors and
towers are free of leaks or malfunctions; and setting up jobs
for maintenance workers to do. There are other one-person
units as well.
The company's separate fire and safety department, which is charged with approving hazardous work such as welding or entering confined vessels, has been all but eliminated. These responsibilities now rest with foremen, who have received minimal training and fit the work in along with their other duties.
Until 1988 jobs in this department were part of the union at Avon. A similar fire department, whose workforce was composed of union members, was eliminated at the refinery in Rodeo a few miles away when Tosco bought the plant from the Unocal Corp. two years ago. Many workers have said that the fire would not have occurred had this "second set of eyes" still been there.
Tosco is now demanding that the union at Avon agree to further job combinations and cuts in the number of operators throughout the refinery. Tosco claimed in its preliminary report to the county that there had been no layoffs of company-employed union workers since the 1950s. A large number of the maintenance workers, however, who do the regular daily maintenance at the plant but are employed by other companies under contract with Tosco have been laid off in recent weeks. Very little maintenance work is being done. Operators at the Rodeo plant are being forced to perform maintenance work while running process units.
Following the fire February 25, the Contra Costa County Hazardous Materials Commission recommended by a 6-3 vote that the county Board of Supervisors order the plant closed for a thorough investigation of the plant's safety. Some 100 people, including a few oil workers and workers in the construction trades, attended a special meeting called by the supervisors February 27.
County board urges plant shut down
The meeting received wide coverage in the news media.
After hearing reports and testimony from workers, local
officials, environmental activists, and people who live in
the area, the Board voted to request that Tosco voluntarily
close the plant pending an investigation and pay employees
during the period of shutdown. County legal advisors are
debating whether or not the Board of Supervisors has legal
authority to compel Tosco to shut down. The company sent no
official representative to the meeting.
Sharon Ruddell, whose husband was killed in the 1983 catalytic cracker fire, told the meeting, "The long list of Tosco widows and bereft families is unacceptable and something must be done."
Denny Larson, of the Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) showed a video of the news conference where Creggett told his story. "That's our report from CBE," he said. He added that he believed that Tosco would continue to conduct maintenance in the same fashion.
Howard Spencer, president of PACE local 326 at the nearby Tosco Rodeo refinery, and an operator in that plant, explained that Tosco had reduced the union work force by 62 people nearly two years ago when the company bought the plant. They forced workers to reapply for their own jobs, and return "to jobs and conditions decided by Tosco."
The fire and safety department was eliminated. Increased work and job responsibilities continue to be piled upon the operators. Cuts in production at the Avon refinery, Spencer pointed out, will be made up at Rodeo where units will be run beyond their capacity. He said workers should be paid at union wages for any time lost if Avon is closed.
While many pointed to the dangers and unsafe conditions at the Avon plant, others urged the Board of Supervisors to go slow. Pam Aguilar, president of the Contra Costa County Central Labor Council said, "We are not prepared to say, at this point, that the plant should be closed. It should be a consideration if that is the only way to keep our members from dying." Aguilar also expressed the fear that Tosco would simply walk away from the site for good.
Jeff Dodge, local field representative of PACE local 8-5, which organizes workers at the refinery, said conditions were "tragic and intolerable." But he warned against making any "hasty" moves until investigations were finished. "The Chemical Safety Board," a recently created federal agency charged with looking into chemical accidents, "is our only hope." This approach was also advanced by U.S. congressman George Miller, whose district includes the area around the refinery.
When the Board of Supervisors reconvened March 2, Tosco CEO Thomas O'Malley told them that the Avon refinery would be shut down for 30 days to "attempt to determine when and if the refinery can be run safely," O'Malley said. Workers would continue to be paid during this time. O'Malley warned, however, that there was no guarantee that the plant would be restarted. "We're in a market economy," he reminded his audience.
After having sat through company meetings with O'Malley, three different operators told this reporter that they believe the shutdown will provide the opening O'Malley is seeking to close the plant for good.
Jim Altenberg is a member of PACE Local 8-5 and an operator at the Avon refinery.