The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission has vacated all but two citations against a major oil refiner issued under the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s process safety management standard, with millions of dollars in fines initially proposed by the agency vacated during the appeal process. 

BP Products North America Inc. operates a petroleum refinery in Oregon, Ohio — a refinery owned by BP-Husky Refining LLC, according to review commission documents in Secretary of Labor vs. BP Products North America Inc. and BP-Husky Refining LLC released on Thursday. A team of compliance officers and industrial hygienists from OSHA inspected the refinery from Sept. 10 through Dec. 18, 2009, as part of the agency’s refinery national emphasis program.

On March 8, 2010, OSHA issued three citations to BP, two of which were settled prior to the hearing while 65 citation items in one of the willful citations — all of which alleged violations of OSHA’s process safety management of highly hazardous chemicals — proceeded to a hearing. The PSM standard outlines requirements for preventing or minimizing the consequences of catastrophic release of toxic, reactive, flammable or explosive chemicals that may result in toxic, fire or explosion hazards.

A total penalty of $2.8 million had been proposed by OSHA, but an administrative law judge vacated all but five of these items, each of which were affirmed as serious and for which the law judge assessed a total penalty of $35,000, according to the documents. These items concern various aspects of pressure relief equipment, cross-connections between systems in the refinery and the siting of various buildings and facilities.

But the review commission vacated all but two of the remaining citations related to cross-connections, grouped them as serious and assessed a single penalty of $7,000 after determining that the U.S. Secretary of Labor failed to prove a prima facie case.

A U.S. Department of Labor spokesman and attorneys for the companies could not be immediately reached for comment.