BP's Horrible Safety Record: It's Got 760 OSHA Fines, Exxon Has Just 1

Business Insider ^ | Jun. 2, 2010, 2:07 PM | Vince Veneziani

[Yollopoliuhqui]

Want to hear something scary? BP (BP) has been fined by OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) 760 times. By contrast, oil giant ExxonMobil (XOM) has been fined only once.

[LiberConservative]

I used to be a very loyal customer of BP since shortly after 9/11 I read where they were one of the oil companies least reliant on middle east sources. But this is outrageous.

[Mouton]

Is that the same company the Ozero administration was prepared to give a safety award to? Naw, could not be.

[Spok]

BP has concentrated its efforts where it gets the best return-sucking up to Democrats and paying them off.

[mountainlion]

Our government is more dangerous than say the top 100 companies.

[Walkingfeather]

this is how it works.... if this administration is getting a award most likely they are guilty of the opposite and have set up the prize to throw off suspicion.

[Secret Agent Man]

Well BP is an English company (British Petroleum) even though its reach is global. Far as I know Exxon Mobil is an American multinational oil and gas company.

[muawiyah]

Before we start discussing the relative evilness of these companies we need to know the nature of the offenses.

OSHA can penalize you for simply having an outdated handbook on hand. That might count for hundreds of violations.

Lighting a match that blows up an entire refinery and kills hundreds of people might well count for ONE violation.

So far none of the folks trying to get us to imagine there's meaning in these reports have bothered to tell us what the offenses were.

That makes me suspect that we have "propagandists at work".

[obama-facts]

That's a fishy statistic if ever I saw one! Is there really such a gulf between the quality of the professional engineers in the two companies or is something going on at OSHA?

[PeaceBeWithYou]

They aren’t called ByPass for nothing.

They are very inventive when it comes to thinking up new ways to get around safety and any other inconvienient regulations.

[Non-Sequitur]

BP has concentrated its efforts where it gets the best return-sucking up to Democrats and paying them off.

Looks like the would have gotten a better return sinking the money into safety equipment.

[Pearls Before Swine]

760 fines versus only 1? Clearly a case of corporate discrimination!

[TYVets]

Before we start discussing the relative evilness of these companies we need to know the nature of the offenses.

Excellent Point.

OHSA inspectors can find offenses if they look hard enough.

An extension cord with the ground prong broken off? A offense and fine.

They make the rules and do the inspections. A dangerous combination than can be used for political retaliation.

[muawiyah]

Ah, yes, the old "fake safety finding" ~ this ol'gal nailed my office for someone having left the hold down strap on the paper cutter in the loose position.

Ruined my otherwise PERFECT safety inspection.

She later on married the boss' boss ~ and though he said "She seemed so sweet and nice at the beginning, about the day after they were married she turned into a monster".

I could have told him!

[CodeToad]

Propaganda, nothing more. Politics can play as much a role as truth when it comes to government organizations.

[nascarnation]

BP priced fixed propane for home heating oil in 2004

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/23/AR2007102302255.html

I got screwed bigtime on my home heating.

[rigelkentaurus]

Is there really such a gulf between the quality of the professional engineers in the two companies or is something going on at OSHA?

It's the quality, focus and priorities of management that generally make the difference. Companies do indeed have distinctive cultures that result in significant differences in outcomes. The difference between between BP and XOM is about the same as RATs vs Pubbies.

[Bryanw92]

>>That makes me suspect that we have “propagandists at work”.

Exactly. I’ve worked in industry my entire life and if an oil company can have only 1 OSHA fine, then it is gaming the system, transferring blame to the injured employee by pointing to complex safety “rules”, or just good old fashioned corruption.

I’m not saying that BP is an angel, but its funny that until the spill, everyone hated Exxon-Mobil and loved BP. Now E-M is the model corporate citizen?!? I’m so sick of the propoganda and just want facts—not statistics.

[muawiyah]

OSHA rules relate to "safety". Many of the Leftwingtard propagandists have attempted to portray OSHA violations as having something to do with environmental safety.

Trying to think of how they link ~ too tall ladders maybe let oil workers climb into trees and harm baby birds perhaps?

[Bryanw92]

That’s the implication. They talk about “well safety” and then cite OSHA fines. The average American cubicle rat doesn’t know the difference.