USW: Oil Safety Issues Must be Negotiated

http://blog.aflcio.org/2010/07/06/usw-oil-safety-issues-must-be-negotiated/

by James Parks, Jul 6, 2010

The United Steelworkers (USW) wants to sit down with the oil industry to discuss health and safety issues.

The public’s awareness of the lack of oil industry safety has been heightened by the tragic BP/Deepwater Horizon explosion that killed 11 workers, set off the largest oil spill in Gulf history and put thousands of people out of work. But the reality is that safety has been an ongoing problem.

During April and May, there were 13 fires, 19 deaths and 25 injuries in the oil industry, USW says. This year, refineries have averaged one fire per week. These figures reflect only reported incidents. There could be more because refineries have no legal obligation to report every incident.

USW Vice President Gary Beevers, who heads the union’s oil sector, said in a statement:.

I’ve asked the industry to sit down and have an honest discussion about handling safety effectively. Let’s conduct a thorough analysis, then negotiate a signed agreement that addresses the alarming deterioration in safety throughout the oil industry.

The same loose attitude toward risk and willingness to put cost ahead of safety that led to the Deepwater Horizon disaster exist throughout the oil industry. It’s not just offshore drilling and it’s not just BP.

FULL story at link.