OSHA issues citations to U.S. refiners

HOUSTON, June 10 (Reuters) - The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration said on Wednesday nearly 350 citations were issued to 14 refiners in the first year of a national inspection program to improve refinery safety.

"Our inspection teams were repeatedly seeing the same problems at the refineries," said acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Jordan Barab in a statement. "We found it necessary to remind employers of the importance of compliance with OSHA standards that are designed to save workers' lives."

In response to the OSHA statement, the American Petroleum Institute said injury rates at refineries have been steadily falling since 1998.

"According to (U.S.) Bureau of Labor Statistics data, a refinery employee is four to five times less likely to be injured on the job than employees in other manufacturing sectors," API said in the statement.

OSHA announced the national emphasis inspection program for refineries in 2007 after an investigation by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board faulted the agency's enforcement of safety rules at BP's Texas City, Texas, refinery.

A March 23, 2005, blast at the Texas City refinery killed 15 workers and injured 180 others.

API said refineries work to reduce safety risks, investigate malfunctions and maintain their refinery equipment.

OSHA said some of the refinery inspections done so far revealed plants that "failed to address their own process safety findings and recommendations, and failed to establish maintenance procedures for equipment such as pressure vessels and emergency shutdown systems."

The agency said it recently sent letters to refiners sharing data from the inspections and reminding them of refinery safety regulations.

An OSHA spokeswoman said that was first time such safety reminders were sent to U.S. refiners though it has been done with other industries. (Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Christian Wiessner)