BP removed as HSE leadership model

Energy firm BP has been removed from the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) website on directors’ leadership, after the safety body was criticised for providing undeserved publicity for a serial safety offender.

Rory O’Neill, editor of TUC Risks and Hazards magazine, wrote to HSE chief executive Geoffrey Podger in the wake of a record US safety fine on BP for failing to remedy hundreds of problems at its Texas City refinery. BP is the recipient of the two highest ever safety penalties in the US and was the first company to receive a £1 million safety penalty in the UK. O’Neill called for the HSE to stop promoting the firm. HSE chief executive Geoffrey Podger wrote back arguing that the website case histories were “time expired” and were to be removed anyway.