Refinery Life

Well my friends it has happened again, another 24 down. I guess the price of oil and the price at the petrol pumps have nothing to do with it, yea sure, tell that to the widows of the next tragedy. The senior guys know what there are up to swashbuckling there way through the corporate boardroom. Profit over people the old pirates code, get em were it hurts eh? I am sure we will come up with another excuse and give 500 dollars to a local charity and laugh about it in the boardroom. Wake up people and smell the roses or rather the HF acid or hydrogen sulfide.

Workers hurt in gas leak
From:
By Neil Mercer and Peter Holmes

September 25, 2005


TWO investigations have been launched into Caltex after 24 workers were treated for injuries sustained from a gas leak at its Kurnell refinery in New South Wales yesterday.
The incident began shortly after 8am when hydrogen sulphide was discovered leaking at the site during a routine inspection by maintenance staff.

Several ambulance officers and eight fire crews, including a hazardous materials response unit attended the scene.

The injured workers were treated for shortness of breath, nausea and eye irritation. Nine were taken to St George Hospital and were later released, while five remained in Sutherland Hospital under observation.

In all, about 30 employees were evacuated. One worker said the gas had leaked out of a "flare drum which burns off waste products".

He said the leak took place in the middle of the refinery where work was under way on a clean fuels project. Some of those affected had suffered from sore eyes and burning throats or a blood nose while others felt sick in the stomach, the worker said.

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He praised the quick response of emergency workers.

"Everything was under control, the (response) has been spot on," he said.

"That gas can knock you unconscious."

A WorkCover investigation was launched immediately after the incident.

A spokesman for NSW Industrial Relations Minister John Della Bosca said the investigation would examine the circumstances of the leak.

"It will also examine response plans in place at the time," he said.

"Depending on the outcome of the investigation, serious fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars could apply if breaches of occupational health and safety laws are found."

Caltex refining general manager Eion Turnbull said the refinery would launch its own inquiry.

"We will have a very thorough investigation," he said.

Caltex is upgrading the Kurnell refinery to meet lower limits on sulphur and other pollutants in gasoline and diesel by January 1, a deadline set down by the Federal Government.

The leak follows a series of problems at the oil refinery, which has accumulated millions of dollars in unplanned maintenance and shutdown costs over the past three years.

Eight months ago, a faulty pressure relief safety valve at the refinery leaked thousands of litres of LP gas into the atmosphere.