On Feb. 23, five workers were repairing a pipe at the plant's crude oil unit when naphtha--a highly flammable oil product that ignites by flowing onto a hot surface-- leaked out of the pipe and erupted. The workers were instantly engulfed in a wave of fire that leaped up the 133-foot distillation tower.

One worker, Ricardo Enriquet, was killed instantly. Ernie Pofahl, Rollin Blue, and Raynold Rodacker died within the next four days. A fifth worker, Steve Duncan, sustained multiple fractures, a broken right arm, a head injury and bums over most of his body.

All five workers were union members. Ernie Pofahl and Steve Duncan were members of PACE Local 8-5. Enriquet and Blue were members of the Carpenters Union, and Rodacker was a member of the Ironworkers.

In mid-February a pinhole leak was discovered in one of the pipes located on the distillation tower. The lead operator in charge of the unit, Anthony Creggett, told the media that he wanted the high-temperature distilling process shut down while the leak was repaired

"We requested it be shut down. I was shot down," Creggett said. He said decisions regarding the plant's operations came from the top on down.

Creggett said that on February 23 he was trying to help workers drain the naphtha from the bottom of the pipe. He later told reporters that he was doing this when someone questioned him and said they were going to use a different route.

Creggett himself almost became a casualty because he was about to climb the tower after lunch, but decided to finish his sandwich.

At a press conference three days after the explosion, the Contra Costa Times reported that Tosco officials suggested that the workers at the plant should have shut down the equipment if they thought the situation was unsafe. Tosco spokesperson Linda Saltzman said that all employees have the authority to shut down a project they believe to be unsafe.

"There will be no repercussions for acting," Saltzman said in the Times. "I have a difficult time with people not taking responsibility."

PACE Region Eleven Vice President Bill McGoveran said there is no language in the PACE contract with Tosco that says workers are allowed to shut down a project if they feel it is unsafe.

"In reality, the situation is that while there are policies, there are also practices," he said. "Policies are convenient for the company when it goes before the public. While the company has policies, those policies are not necessarily followed.

"In real life, the company wants to get the job done. We've had people overruled by management when they tried to shut a project down."

McGoveran said that Tosco tells the union it has hired the best health and safety-conscious management team. But, he said, that doesn't help when the company slashes its work force, reducing the number of workers operating the facility.

"We have some real concerns about the staffing," said PACE Region Eleven Representative Jeff Clark, to reporters from the San Francisco Chronicle. "They're having operators take on safety inspection work, others doing maintenance work, having everyone work leaner and harder, and we're not fully comfortable with that."

Tosco has closed the refinery for sixty days for a full safety audit. Meanwhile, the federal Chemical and Safety Investigation Board is investigating the accident, along with four other public agencies, the union, the company and the two contracting companies. The board is going to request additional funds from Congress to investigate this explosion since the findings will have ramifications for the rest of the petrochemical industry.

PACE union leaders met with Tosco officials late March, and McGoveran said there was no commitment by the company if it would or would not restart the refinery.

The PACESetter, vol.1 no.2, April 1999