The United Steelworkers (USW) union released the following statement today in response to the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) draft report on the August 6, 2012, explosion and fire at the Chevron refinery in Richmond, Calif., that sent at least 15,000 people in the San Francisco Bay Area to local hospitals:
"The USW is very pleased to see that the U.S. Chemical Safety Board has released its draft report from the Chevron, Richmond, Calif., fire and explosion in August 2012. Workers at the facility, many of whom are members of USW Local 5, and many other members of the Bay Area community, were adversely affected by this incident, and are deeply invested in making sure events like this do not happen again.
"The USW will be working very closely with Local 5 members and other stakeholders as we review the draft report and provide comments. We hope that the comments provided by all interested parties are helpful to the CSB in its deliberations and in preparing a final report for the CSB board members to review.
"As with all tragic incidents like this, we hope to learn as much as possible about what happened and why, correct the problems at the facility and share these lessons with other workplaces where workers face similar hazards."
The USW is the largest industrial union in North America, representing workers in a range of industries including metals, mining, rubber, paper and forestry, oil refining, health care, security, hotels, and municipal governments and agencies.
