Ex-Worker Charges Some Sleep on Job at Refinery

A former Mobil refinery worker has filed a complaint with federal officials alleging that employees at the Torrance refinery frequently sleep on the job, endangering their own safety as well as that of others, and that they are rarely disciplined.

“It is a serious problem which is having a great impact on the quality of the operation,” said Bruce Lohmann, 34, of Long Beach.

“There is a potential for . . . a disaster because of the sleeping problem,” Lohmann said in the complaint filed last week.

But Mobil refinery manager Wyman Robb said that sleeping on the job rarely occurs at the refinery. It violates policy, he said, and when discovered, is punished severely.

“The situation that he described would not be tolerated in a refinery,” Robb said.

Robb characterized Lohmann as a disgruntled ex-employee who did not get along with fellow employees and who left after management declined to promote him to a supervisory position.

Lohmann disagreed.

“I got along with my co-workers as well as anyone there,” he said.

He said he left after working as an assistant operations worker at Mobil from Jan. 9 to May 18 because of his concerns for safety at the refinery--and after receiving a job offer from a government agency. Before joining Mobil, Lohmann said, he worked about five years at the Chevron refinery in El Segundo.

In addition to filing a complaint with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, he talked with a Cal/OSHA official who said the agency would investigate, Lohmann said. He said he also will meet with Torrance Fire Department officials to brief them.

Capt. Kenneth Hall, the department’s chief fire investigator, said, “If that type of thing is occurring, we would encourage people to come forward, even anonymously.”

In an interview, Lohmann said that after he arrived at Mobil, he found what he called a less vigilant atmosphere about safety than at Chevron. He said he had been a member of a Chevron plant safety committee.

“Frankly, when I initially got there (at Mobil), I enjoyed the easygoing atmosphere,” he said.

“I saw problems from the start, but it was quite easygoing and relaxed and kick-back, compared to Chevron. . . . I got increasingly concerned, and then scared.”

He said he saw a number of problems. A pump that was scheduled for repair was not properly fenced off, he said, although it was leaking toxic, explosive fumes. He also said an improper procedure was used to fix a leak in a furnace tube, creating the potential for an explosive fire.

In his complaint, Lohmann said the sleeping took place in some of the refinery’s smaller control rooms where shift supervisors are not stationed.

In the control room of the unit where he worked, he said, he saw sleeping workers “typically, slouched back. Some people would be leaning forward on the desk with their hands in front of them, with their heads on their arms.”

Mobil officials dispute every point in Lohmann’s allegations.

Robb denied that sleeping is a significant problem. He added that five employees out of 800 had been disciplined in the last two years for sleeping, with punishments ranging from a 10-day suspension to a written reprimand.

But support of a general nature for some of Lohmann’s contentions emerged last month in the largest U.S. study of sleeping on the job among shift workers.

The survey of 7,400 refinery, chemical plant, power plant and factory shift workers by three California researchers found that sleepiness is a widespread problem that can cause accidents and poor performance.