OSHRC judge finds Exxon failed to report PTSD following refinery explosion

An administrative law judge with the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission dismissed two citations and affirmed one issued to Exxon Mobil Corp. over the company not recording in its Occupational Safety and Health Administration logs mental issues suffered by three employees responding to a refinery explosion near Houston in 2021.

As documented in Acting Secretary of Labor v. Exxon Mobil Baytown Refinery and United Steel Workers, filed Jan. 2, three employees present on Dec. 23, 2021, when an explosion caused the plant to burn for eight hours, later reported to their physicians such symptoms as nightmares, flashbacks and anxiety.

Exxon’s medical team, which received reports from several medical professionals regarding the mental diagnoses, which included post-traumatic stress disorder, did not record the illnesses on the company’s OSHA logs. The Exxon team based the three separate decisions on the lack of qualifications of the medical professionals making the diagnoses and, in part, preexisting conditions and the timing of the diagnoses of one of the employees.

After dissecting the evaluations and arguments of each of the three employees, whose experiences during and after the event varied, the judge dismissed two citations for failing to report illnesses. In one instance, the judge argued that the timing of the diagnoses proved that the disease may not have been related to the refinery explosion. In the second case, the judge ruled that Exxon did not fail to report an illness diagnosed by a professional other than a psychiatrist.

The judge found that one employee, however, likely had post-traumatic stress disorder, and assessed a $691 fine — one-third of the proposed total penalty — against Exxon, arguing its second opinion doctor failed to properly examine the patient, who was undergoing treatment for PTSD.