Changes Urged For California Refineries

California needs a new approach for regulating refineries, says a report released last week by the federal Chemical Safety & Hazard Investigation Board (CSB). The report was the second of three examining an August 2012 accident at the Chevron refinery in Richmond, Calif., which sent some 15,000 residents to area hospitals and endangered 19 workers, the board said. Chevron, the report says, had repeatedly failed over a 10-year period to apply inherently safer design principles and to upgrade piping in its crude oil processing unit, which was corroded and ultimately ruptured. CSB notes that California has proposed changes to improve process safety management regulations and to shift the state to a more proactive regulatory scheme following the accident. The board urges the state to finalize those draft regulations. The report also continues CSB’s call for a new regulatory approach similar to one used in the U.K., Australia, and other developed countries. The final CSB report on the Chevron accident will be released in December, the board says.