The new owner of the Wynnewood refinery in southern Oklahoma has won a court fight over an OSHA finding that it violated safety rules and regulations which led to a boiler explosion.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with Wynnewood Refining Co., LLC that it should not have been cited by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration because of the explosion occurred before it became the owner.
OSHA contended the refinery had previously violated its rules but as the court noted in its ruling, “the prior violations occurred before Wynnewood LLC owned the refinery and therefore occurred under a different employer.”
The court found that OSHA’s commission did not classify the violations as “repeat violations” which allowed for increased penalties. Wynnewood appealed the Commission’s order, arguing that section 1910.119 did not apply to the boiler that exploded.
The U.S. Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia also appealed the OSHA Commission’s order, making the same argument that OSHA failed to characterize the violations as repeat violations.
Click here for the ruling.