CSB issues 11 recommendations in report on Chevron refinery fire

Richmond, CA – Chemical Safety Board members unanimously approved a set of recommendations as part of the agency’s third and final report on a fire and vapor release that affected thousands of residents near a Chevron refinery in 2012.

No one was killed or seriously injured by the incident, but more than 15,000 people near the facility in Richmond, CA, sought medical treatment. In its final report, CSB cited a series of shortcomings that preceded the pipe rupture.

CSB published 11 recommendations for the American Petroleum Institute, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Chevron and local government officials. CSB advised that API revise several guidelines, including:

• Set minimum requirements to prevent catastrophic rupture of low-silicon carbon steel piping (API RP 939-C).
• Increase awareness of the characteristics of sulfidation corrosion and refer users to specific, relevant API standards on the issue (API RP 571).
• Require users to create and implement a program that identifies carbon steel piping circuits that might be prone to sulfidation corrosion (API RP 578).
• Require users to establish a protocol for responding to process fluid leaks. Recommend that they include actions in that protocol that pertain to potential sulfidation corrosion piping failure (API RP 2001).