Following the resignation of Howard Shipley from the HSE Board in April this year, a rubber stamping exercise to put David Cameron’s and Ian Duncan Smith’s favoured candidate for the position took place.
In April their candidate, guilty of health and safety crimes and pollution at BP drilling sites around the world, one Mr John Morgan; took his place on the board of the Health and Safety Executive.
As CEO of British Petroleum, Morgan oversaw some of the worst industrial accident and pollution occurrences in the petroleum industry.
Morgan was head of the company in Alaska (BP Alaska) from 1994 until 1997, during which time BP faced serious criticism for its safety and environmental performance, which led to criminal investigations by agencies including the FBI and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
It beggars belief that a body such as the HSE, not to mention the Prime Minister and Secretary of Department of Works And pensions; would not know of the full record of Morgan prior to outing him in place. In doing so they signalled what they really think of workplace deaths and injuries, and polluters of the planet – as long as they make billions in profit, deaths and pollution is ignored!
As Hazards magazine reports, the appointment of such a man to the HSE Board shows complete contempt for health and safety of workers in this country:
Over this period a BP contractor [1993 to 1996] injected toxic waste into the wells at its drill site on Endicott Island off Prudhoe Bay. The illegally injected wastes included carcinogenic and highly toxic chemicals including lead, benzene, toluene and methylene chloride. The incident prompted a massive state and federal investigation and a 1999 guilty plea by BP to a felony count.
In 2000, BP paid a $22 million fine, pleaded guilty to a criminal charge and agreed to five years of probation for offences committed on Morgan’s watch. “This case forces a company that should have known better to do better,” said Lois J Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General for Environment and Natural Resources at the US Department of Justice. “Our goal is to deter such violations by all oil companies.
What is even more astonishing about John Morgan being given the job on the HSE Board is that in it’s application procedures, the HSE requires applicants to give full details of any information “relevant to an assessment of your suitability as a public appointee.” Having had the FBI on your tail might be considered to be “relevant.”
Being in charge during major environmental crimes and workplace deaths and injuries caused in part by cuts in staffing levels as implemented by Morgan, and having the FBI investigate you; must be considered as relevant facts!
But was such a record known to the HSE and UK government? Did Morgan declare these highly relevant facts about his record as head of a major international and environmentally polluting industry and petro-chemical company such as BP?
Neither of these questions have been answered by the government, the DWP, or the HSE when asked by Hazards.
Hazards campaign reports:
An inquiry from Hazards asking “was any information relating to the criminal and other investigations of BP Alaska by the FBI and other federal and state agencies declared in John Morgan’s application?” received this response from a DWP spokesperson: “The department carried out all necessary due diligence in this appointment.”
A separate inquiry asking whether detailed information provided by Hazards on the toxic crimes would lead to Morgan’s appointment being reconsidered or rescinded received an identical reply.
But the reach of BP into the UK government and its departments doesn’t stop there.
Lord John Browne, the former BP CEO has resided over deaths and major pollution incidents as a result of his cost-cutting programmes, with one of the worst in history of the industry, the devastating Texas City oil refinery explosion in 2005 that killed 15; held responsible for its occurrence. Subsequent catastrophes including the deadly and environmentally devastating 2010 Deepwater Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico followed.
But rather than prison Browne was given a major prize, three years after his resignation from BP, and appointed a “lead non-executive director” in Whitehall, with a seat on the Cabinet Office board.
The message is clear, pollute, kill and maim; and you can depend upon the UK Government to reward you.
Source: Hazards Campaign / Unionsafety / DWP / HSE
See also:
Guilty Plea by BP to Endicott Island Incident
Hazards Report
