Washington Proposes Changes to Safety Rules for Refinery Workers

Washington state officials are working to revise regulations that aim to keep oil refinery workers safe.

The state Department of Labor and Industries has developed a new set of rules that include updates to equipment safety standards.

Sally Buckingham of the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health says the rules address process safety management to safeguard workers against injury from toxic or hazardous chemicals.

Refineries would require refineries to assess how corrosion, cracking and other degradation could damage equipment.

Buckingham says the current rules were created in 1992 and are now outdated.

She says the agency aims to enact the new standards by the end of the year.

A public comment period on the changes is scheduled to open up this summer.