Operator Blamed for Deadly Louisiana Platform Blast

Nearly a year after three Filipino welders died in an oil platform explosion off Louisiana’s coast, the federal offshore safety bureau has issued a report that blames operator Black Elk Energy and its contractors for not taking proper precautions, not identifying hazards and for communicating poorly.

The men worked for Grand Isle Shipyard Inc., which was under contract with Texas-based Black Elk to refurbish the platform about 20 miles south of Grand Isle.

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement report issued Monday found the explosion happened because storage tanks weren’t properly purged of flammable liquid before the crew was cleared to perform “hot work” with torches on nearby pipes, WWL-TV reports.

The pipes ignited because of gas vapors, and the fire spread to three storage tanks, BSEE said. The tanks exploded and two landed in the Gulf of Mexico, polluting the water, the agency said.

“These failures reflect a disregard for the safety of workers on the platform and are the antithesis of the type of safety culture that should guide decision-making in all offshore oil and gas operations,” said Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement Director Brian Salerno in a written statement.

Ellroy Corporal, Jerome Malagapo and Avelino Tajonera died as a result of the Nov. 16, 2012, explosion. Three others suffered serious injuries and nine people were taken to hospitals by helicopter that day.

The investigation concluded that Corporal probably died instantly from the explosion. The panel found that Malagapo likely died soon after from injuries suffered in the explosion, as did Tajonera, who died six days later in the hospital.

BSEE said that Black Elk and its subcontractors – Grand Isle Shipyards/DNR, Wood Group PSN, and Compass Engineering Consultants – did not follow federal regulations and also failed to follow Black Elk’s own hot-work plan, which called for a full inspection of any area before welding work was to begin.

Wood Group never determined it was safe to weld, as the plan called for, the report said. In fact, the supervisor for Grand Isle Shipyards told investigators that the Compass consultant had said all lines had been purged, but the consultant said he didn’t even know hot work was going to be done Nov. 16.

And the Wood Group supervisor said if he had known the welding was going to happen, his crews would have made sure the lines were purged, the report said.

A spokeswoman for Black Elk did not immediately return an emailed request for comment.

It also said the companies tried to use a single hot-work permit to cover three different locations that were far away from each other, with a single person on fire watch, making it nearly impossible to provide proper safety oversight.

Grand Isle Shipyards, meanwhile, supplied gas detectors but they were never used to check the welding location. Investigators found them still docked in their charging stations after the explosion.

The report notes that no workers invoked their authority to stop work that looked dangerous, but it also said that several workers from Grand Isle Shipyards/DNR feared reprisal if they continued to complain about work conditions. Many of those workers have sued Black Elk and the contractors.