BP explosion and safety

BrooklynDodger notes that the three largest OSHA penalties assessed were 1.3 million against Union Carbide during the Reagan Administration, 7 million against USX during the Bush I administration, and now 21 million against BP during Bush II. The Dodger had noted the first incidents when Bush II was appointed, perhaps whistling in the dark that all was not lost in H&S after the disappointing Clinton years. The Dodger fears that corporate management heard the labor critique of the Bush II OSHA, and walked away from safety and health concerns, and hopes that management will now remember that lightning struck 3 times during conservative administrations, and could strike a 4th. Unlike the previous two cases, where OSHA settled out the citations for far less than the press release amounts, this pre-citation settlement is an agreed to penalty.

A month before the OSHA announcement, the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) issued an emergency statement:

http://www.csb.gov/news_releases/docs/BP

BrooklynDodger recommends that safety types take a look at the interim recommendations by the Chemical Safety Board to BP, following a series of incidents which befell the corporation after the March explosion.

The CSB BP recommendations include an external safety panel.

BrooklynDodger hopes that the CSB will also make recommendations for OSHA.