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‘If we want to get serious about protecting refinery workers … we need greater real-time accountability and more prohibitive fines for infractions.’
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. ” With this foreboding line, George Santayana captured so much of the human condition — and corporate greed and malfeasance — that left unchecked can have disastrous consequences.
Almost 30 years ago, I sat at the funeral of Michael Glanzman, a 41-year-old worker who was killed in the 1997 explosion at the Avon Refinery in Martinez, then operated by Tosco Corporation. As, Mr. Glanzman died because of a dangerous corporate culture — Tosco hedged that it could ignore safety warnings to maximize profit and that it could do so without consequence. Mr. Glanzman paid the ultimate price for Tosco’s hubris.
Just two years later, tragedy struck again when four maintenance workers were killed in a catastrophic fire at the same facility, which the U.S. Chemical Safety Board attributed to flawed management supervision that failed to effectively assessAs a Contra Costa County Supervisor at the time, I was resolved to never again attend a funeral for workers who died due to corporate negligence. In an effort to dismantle the toxic cultures of corporations like Tosco flouting safety with impunity and prioritizing profits over people, the Board of Supervisors partnered with labor, industry, environmental advocates and safety experts to enact the groundbreaking Industrial Safety Ordinance , a set of regulations and strict safety management standards for local refineries and chemical plants.
The ISO allowed unannounced and regular safety inspections and fines for non-compliance and required rigorous assessments of human factors, safety culture and the input of frontline employees all aimed at preventing and investigating refinery safety incidents. The ISO is a case study in the positive effects of government oversight and corporate accountability: During the 1990’s, on average there was a major incident every year in Contra Costa County that caused a fatality, serious injury or major damage.
But like Santayana warned, humans have short memories and as past mistakes recede further in our rearview mirrors, hubris rears its ugly head. In the past several years, there has been a resurgence of flaring and safety incidents at local refineries. Recent enforcement actions have also documented hundreds of violations and several major releases and fires at local refineries. These incidents are not faceless statistics.
In November 2023, Jerome Serrano, a worker at the Martinez Marathon facility — which operates at the same site as the home of the 1997 and 1999 fatal disasters — suffered third-degree burns across more than 80% of his body in a major fire. He spent more than half a year in the burn unit, had parts of his fingers and thumbs amputated, and suffered heart attacks and sepsis.
Federal, state and local investigations revealed at least nine safety violations at the facility. History is repeating itself. As these incidents have surged, government oversight has not kept pace. While the fine levied against Martinez Refining Company this year is a start for, we must consider whether $10 million is deterrent enough, or whether it is just the calculated cost of doing business for a subsidiary of an energy company worth almost $8 billion.
The workers themselves have had enough, and have started striking and rallying for more action at the state level. If we want to get serious about protecting refinery workers and surrounding communities, we need greater real-time accountability and more prohibitive fines for infractions.
Accountability could come in the form of requiring that troubling readings automatically trigger investigation and corrective action rather than simply disclosure; tracking some leading process-safety indicators like equipment failures, overdue inspections, leaks, failed safety systems and resolved hazards, as recommended by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board; or following Europe’s lead and increasing inspections on problematic facilities and publicly tracking whether required fixes have actually been completed. No idea is too big or too small, but something needs to be done.
On top of policy reforms, we need a systemic shift in our culture and our priorities from the top down. The corporations that are the worst offenders care more about their bottom lines than the safety of their workers and the communities they operate in. The facilities’ neighbors deserve clean air and to live free from fear. There are companies doing business in our community that are doing it the right way, but there are too many others that aren’t.
The way to earn community support is to raise the safety standard, not lower it. Unfortunately, today’s permissive culture stems downstream from an administration that encourages reckless government deregulation and the accumulation of wealth regardless of the human cost.
When Donald Trump proposes eliminating the Chemical Safety Board, the agency responsible for investigating refinery safety incidents, it is a signal that the federal government is on the side of big corporations, not workers and communities who will suffer from their reckless violations of safety regulations. If we want to prevent any more tragedies and honor the memories of the members of our community who died due to a culture of corporate greed, we must reject the prioritization of profit over people and match our indignation with action.
If we don’t, I fear I will be attending another funeral soon. Share this:
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