Chemical Emergency Preparedness and Prevention Office (CEPPO)
Other available information regarding the January 21, 1997 accident
at Tosco Avon Refinery in Martinez, CA.
On May 29, 1997, Tosco Refining Company and Contra Costa County Health
Services Department (CCCHSD) issued separate reports on the results and
recommendations from their investigations of the accident. These two reports
are available from Contra Costa County for a cost of $0.25 per page, approx.
$15.00 for both reports. Contact Betty Pierce, CCCHSD at 925-646-2286 for more
information.
On July 10, 1997 twenty citations were issued by CAL OSHA to Tosco
alleging 22 violations of state workplace safety regulations, three of which
were classified as willful serious. The total amount of penalties was
$277,750. On April 24, 1998, Tosco settled with CAL OSHA on safety violations.
Fourteen of the twenty original citations were upheld. Language in some of the
citations was modified. One of the three of the willful citations was upheld.
The total assessed penalty was dropped from $277,750 to $136,500.
On January 20, 1998, two criminal misdemeanor charges were filed against
Tosco Refining Company by the Contra Costa County District Attorney's office.
Tosco pleaded no contest to the charges that the company failed to enforce
safety procedures that would have required workers to shutdown the
hydrocracking unit before the explosion. The company was also charged with
failing to promptly notify health officials of the emergency. Tosco Refining
was found guilty of the charges on January 20 and agreed to pay $450,200
penalty as a condition of probation.
In January 1998, the National Institute for Chemical Studies released
their report, Independent Review of the Contra Costa County Health Services
Department Investigation of the Cause of the Tosco Avon Refinery Incident of
January 21, 1997. This report includes the two accident reports previously
issued, Tosco Refining Company Report on the January 21, 1997 Hydrocracker
Incident at the Avon Refinery (May 1997) and Contra Costa County Health
Services Summary Report to the Board of Supervisors on the Investigation of
the Causes of the Tosco Avon Refinery Incident of 1-21-97. (Dated May 29,
1997). It also includes a listing of the proposed CAL OSHA safety citations of
July 1997. The report is available from NICS, 2300 MacCorkle Avenue SE,
Charleston, WV 25304, Phone: 304-346-6264.
