Via the San Francisco Chronicle, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board on Wednesday rejected an overhaul of safety practices among California’s refineries. The board said the “safety case regime” — a model for refinery safety that has been implemented successfully in Europe — needs further analysis before it can be practiced in California. Several industry associations lobbied against overhauling safety practices in the state, including the API and the Western States Petroleum Association. WSPA President Catherine Reheis-Boyd said in a statement that the proposed changes could “inject a high level of complexity and confusion” into traditional safety programs such as process safety management. The safety case regime would have required refiners in California to continuously submit written reports to regulators explaining how they are reducing risk to a level as low as reasonably practicable.
The CSB recommended the safety case regime last month in response to the 2012 process unit fire at Chevron’s facility in Richmond, Calif. Wednesday’s vote, however, shows the three members of the board ultimately could not come to agreement on its merits.
