BP's Biennial Open House

Each time I've attended the BP refinery's open house at Cherry Point--three times in the last eight years--I've been impressed with their good-neighbor efforts, attention to safety and positive employee relations. While I can't pretend to know anything about any other unit of this huge corporation, this one seems to be on the right track.On October 16, along with about 400 of my friends and neighbors, I waited for a bus while browsing the poster presentations and chatting with the staff on hand to answer questions. Another squadron of staff was managing parking, providing beverages, donuts and sweet rolls under the shelter of an immense tent, and others were conducting people onto the fleet of Belle-Air buses on the tarmac in the employee recreation area.

Because I missed my intended bus due to an unfortunately timed trip to the toilet, the wait seemed long in the brisk morning air. Once aboard, our guide, Ron Petty welcomed us with jokes about charging for the treat and an introduction of himself. He retired from being a BP operator from 1966 to 1999 and has returned to service.

For the next 45 minutes or so, he kept us informed about the history and operation of the refinery. Starting in the 1950's, the plant has changed hands several times and now employees about 800 people with another 800 contractors on site at any given time. (They are constantly hiring--see Careers at www.bp.com.) This labor force produces about 9.6 million gallons of product every day.

All vessels (tanks) are taken down and inspected every five years. BP does this on a rotating schedule that creates a six-to-eight week "turn-around" every year or two. Birch Bay residents and businesses are familiar with this event that brings a thousand or so workers into the area.

The new and improved feature of this tour was the stop at the Shops facility, where we got off the bus, received safety goggles, and were escorted into the huge new (move-in November 2010) building on the Grandview Road side of the property. After a general introduction, we visited demonstration sites in the Instrument and Electrical Shop, the Machine Shop and the Maintenance Shop, where we learned about pumps and impellers (getting a freshly minted miniature impeller key-ring from the computer driven machine).

Tiana Osborne, a maintenance technician, was a welder before she joined BP and the other welders, pipefitters, fabricators, valve specialists and equipment operators in the Maintenance Shop.

Returning to the main tent, we were treated to lunch and a piece of the 40th Anniversary cake. In discussion with Michael Abendhoff, Director of Government and Public Affairs, who was responsible for organizing this event, he said that the Stores building might be on the next tour where we would see many of the items used on a regular basis--sign me up!

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