The OSHA says BP has not done enough with regards to its employee safety following the 2005 Texas City refinery explosion.

The US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued a record fine to BP Products North America of $87 million (£53m) for the company’s failure to correct hazards following a massive explosion at its Texas Refinery in 2005.

An explosion at BP’s Texas City oil refinery in March 2005 resulted in the deaths of 15 people and injured 170 people. In a settlement agreement in September of the same year, BP agreed to corrective actions which would eliminate the possibility of a similar tragedy.

After an initial review into the explosion, the OSHA fined BP $21m in penalties for safety and health violations.

Following a six-month long inspection evaluating whether BP has acted on its safety obligations, the OSHA says that the company has continued to allow its employees to continue to work alongside hundreds of potential hazards.

Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA, Jordan Barab, said: “BP was given four years to correct the safety issues identified pursuant to the settlement agreement, yet OSHA has found hundreds of violations of the agreement and hundreds of new violations.

“BP has a great deal of work to do to assure the safety and health of the employees who work at this refinery.”

As a result of the OSHA’s findings it has issued BP with 270 “notifications of failure to abate” with fines totalling $56.7m; and 439 “wilful violations” (where an employer has knowledge of a violation and doesn’t act upon it), with penalties totalling $30.7m.

In response, BP has launched a formal contest to the OSHA’s citations. BP Products says it has fully cooperated with the OSHA in the agency’s review of its Texas City operations, and that it strongly disagrees with OSHA’s conclusions.

“We are disappointed that OSHA took this action in advance of the full consideration of the Review Commission,” said Keith Casey, Texas City Refinery Manager.

“We believe our efforts at the Texas City Refinery to improve process safety performance have been among the most strenuous and comprehensive that the refining industry has every seen.”

After suffering a slight fall on Friday (30 October) BP’s share price has remained largely unaffected by this latest announcement.