Boston, MA 05/19/2014 (wallstreetpr) – The third natural gas plant fire at Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) this year has led to the expanded probe into the company’s safety practices. The fire that erupted at the pipeline operator’s plant last month had resulted in the evacuation of a town in Wyoming.
Unclear About Broader Issues
According to Dan Tilema from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, who is investigating the incidents said that it is unclear about the presence of the broader issues but said that the series of incidents are unusual. He added that it is highly unlikely to witness a consecutive three incidents over a period of one year, without a strong corporate oversight in relation to the process safety. In the meanwhile, the company, which operated over 26,000 miles of oil and gas pipelines opened a safety review on its own, after a natural gas plant fire on April 23 resulted in evacuation of Opal Town residents in Wyoming. Before that, the company had witnesses explosions on March 31 and June 2013 at its sites in Plymouth, Washington and Louisiana respectively. The Louisiana chemical blast had claimed two lives of its workers and left 80 more injured. The Louisiana incident is already under investigation by the safety board.
Six Safety Violations
As of now, the powers to impose fine and penalties does not vest with the safety board and therefore, it could only make recommendations to the companies and industries to prevent future recurrences. In December, nearly six safety violations were found by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration in the company’s safety practices and had proposed to charg it a $99,000 fine. The company is still underway talks with the agency, according to the company’s spokesman, Tom Droege.During an interview, Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)’s CEO, Alan Armstrong said that it will engage outside experts to review the safety practices as part of its internal probe.
