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Concern about Colorado worker safety and the safety of all workers in oil refineries prompted OSHA to make some changes to its policies. Residents of Colorado, and other states where oil refineries employ workers, will find these changes to be good news.

OSHA recently ended their investigation into an explosion at an oil refinery that BP owned and operated. This refinery was located near Houston, and in early 2005, it was the site of a tragedy. There was an explosion, which caused flames to soar into the sky and debris to litter the area near the refinery. Sadly, 100 workers were injured in this explosion, and 15 workers died.

The safety of oil refinery workers became a major focus for OSHA. When a recent hearing was held concerning the Chemical Safety and Hazard Board (CSB) report on the explosion near Houston, it became even clearer that OSHA is committed to protecting workers. Moreover, when an inspection of another BP refinery six months after the Houston explosion uncovered the same violations, OSHA decided it needed to protect oil refinery workers since the oil companies would not.

To accomplish this mission, OSHA is inspecting all oil refineries that fall within its jurisdiction under the National Emphasis Program, which is new. OSHA has increased the number of inspectors it has to accomplish this mission. So far, they have trained over 160 inspectors who are able to conduct a Process Safety Management (PSM) inspection. The total of PSM-trained inspectors will be 280 by August of 2007.

Not only did the Texas explosion injure and kill employees, it also shut down crude oil processing at the refinery. The Texas BP oil refinery handled about 3% of the total amount of crude oil processed in the United States each day. This amounted to around 433,000 barrels each day. When the oil refinery exploded, the nation lost this production, and the result was higher prices for gasoline the following summer.

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