BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 438
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Date of Hearing: June 26, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT
Roger Hern�ndez, Chair
SB 438 (Hancock) - As Amended: April 4, 2013
SENATE VOTE : 30-9
SUBJECT : Refineries: turnarounds.
SUMMARY : Establishes specific reporting requirements related
to oil refinery "turnarounds." Specifically, this bill :
1)Defines a "turnaround" to mean any instance of an industrial
plant or unit being partially or totally taken offstream or
offline for the purposes of maintenance, overhaul, repair,
inspection, testing, or replacement of materials or equipment.
2)Requires a refinery employer, annually on September 15, to
submit to the Division of Occupational Safety and Health
(DOSH) a full schedule of planned turnarounds for the various
units for the following calendar year.
3)Requires a refinery employer, at the request of DOSH, to
submit the following documentation at least 60 days prior to a
planned turnaround:
a) Corrosion reports.
b) Risk-based inspection reports.
c) Boiler permit schedules.
d) Management of change reports since the last turnaround.
e) Unfulfilled work orders since the last turnaround.
f) Temporary repairs since the last turnaround.
g) Design changes or modifications to vessels and piping
since the last turnaround.
h) Process changes since the last turnaround.
4)Requires a refinery employer, at the request of DOSH, to
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submit the following documentation at least 30 days prior to a
planned turnaround:
a) Notification of any changes and supporting documents
with respect to the previously-provided documentation.
b) Written justification by the refinery employer for any
of those changes.
EXISTING LAW defines "process safety management" as the
application of management programs, which are not limited to
engineering guidelines, when dealing with the risks associated
with handling or working near hazardous chemicals and requires:
1)The Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board to adopt
process safety management standards for refineries, chemical
plants, and other manufacturing facilities.
2)An employer to develop and maintain a compilation of written
safety information to enable the employee and employees
operating the process to identify and understand the hazards
posed by processes involving acutely hazardous and flammable
material.
3)An employer to perform a hazard analysis for identifying,
evaluation, and controlling hazards involved in the process.
4)An employer to develop and implement written operating
procedures that provide clear instructions for safely
conducting activities involved in each process consistent with
the process safety information.
5)Each employee whose primary duties includes the operating or
maintenance of a process shall be trained in an overview of
the process with an emphasis on the specific safety and health
hazards, procedures, and safe practices applicable to the
employee's job tasks as well as refresher and supplemental
training documented by the employer's certification record.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, the Department of Industrial Relations estimates that
it would incur costs of $875,000 (special funds) to implement
the provisions of this bill, to fund new positions required to
evaluate the information provided by refineries.
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COMMENTS : According to the American Petroleum Institute (API),
a refinery turnaround is a planned, periodic shut down (total or
partial) of a refinery process unit or plant to perform
maintenance, overhaul and repair operations and to inspect, test
and replace process materials and equipment. Turnarounds are
scheduled at least 1-2 years in advance and allow for necessary
maintenance and upkeep of operating units to ensure safe and
efficient operations. Depending on the process unit and the
amount of maintenance needed, the length of the turnaround can
vary from 1 week to 4 weeks or more. API also stated that the
less often units are started up and taken down, the safer it is
since refinery incidents are more likely to occur during
turnarounds.
According to an Interim Investigation Report from the U.S.
Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board on the Chevron
Richmond Refinery Fire:
"On August 6, 2012, the Chevron U.S.A. Inc. Refinery in
Richmond, California experienced a catastrophic pipe
failure in the #4 Crude Unit. The pipe ruptured, releasing
flammable, hydrocarbon process fluid that partially
vaporized into a large vapor cloud that engulfed nineteen
Chevron employees. All of the employees escaped, narrowly
avoiding serious injury. The ignition and subsequent
continued burning of the hydrocarbon process fluid resulted
in a large plume of unknown and unquantified particulates
and vapor traveling across the Richmond, California, area.
In the weeks following the incident, approximately 15,000
people from the surrounding area sought medical treatment
due to the release."
In its findings, the Interim Report also stated that in the ten
years prior to the incident, a small number of Chevron personnel
made at least six recommendations to increase inspection or
upgrade the 4-sidecut piping - where the Richmond incident
occurred from. The report details that findings obtained from a
2002 crude unit turnaround at Chevron revealed that the 52-inch
4-sidecut component involved in the August 6th incident had lost
one-third of its wall thickness due to corrosion. Despite
recommendations to upgrade the piping, it was determined that
the pipe has sufficient thickness to last to the next turnaround
schedule for Fall 2011. The report states that the piping was
not replaced during the Fall 2011 turnaround either.
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The Division of Occupational Safety and Health issued a citation
and notification of penalty to Chevron for this reason stating:
"The Employer failed to replace the 4 Sidecut line located
within the 4 Crude Unit, in accordance with recommendations
received from its Reliability Department as early as 2002."
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT :
According to the author's office, the fact that oil refineries
have no obligation under state law to report their "turnaround"
schedule or disclose important information such as corrosion
reports prevents the OSHA from preparing for a possible incident
during a scheduled refinery "turnaround." The author's office
contends that given the importance of "turnarounds," both to the
refinery itself as well as the public safety risk they pose,
allowing the Division of Occupational Health and Safety to know
this information may allow it to conduct targeted inspections of
refinery facilities.
Additionally, the Interim Investigation Report from the U.S.
Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board on the Chevron
Richmond Refinery Fire also stated that "had Chevron followed
its own internal recommendations, or been required by local,
state, or federal regulation to implement inherently safer
systems during repairs, it would have years ago upgraded" the
piping on the unit and "could have prevented the accident."
According to the author's office, under existing law there are
no requirements for an oil refinery to inform the state or local
government about scheduled "turnarounds." They contend that
because refinery incidents are more likely to occur during
turnaround than during normal operations, it is important to
require refineries to annually report their schedules for
"turnarounds" to OSHA and provide documentation on refinery
safety and infrastructure. The author's office also argues that
the Chevron incident in Richmond illustrates the importance of
this bill as it could help prevent another such incident that
threatens the environment as well as public health and safety.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Asian-Pacific Environmental Network
State Building and Construction Trades Council of California
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Ben Ebbink / L. & E. / (916) 319-2091