They say that those who forget history are forced to repeat it. But when it comes to workplace and environmental disasters, that’s not exactly true. Because while the politicians and their corporate supporters are doing the forgetting, it is the workers, the environment and surrounding communities that ultimately pay the price when the inevitable — and preventable — tragedies come home to roost.

When an emergency event occurs at an oil/gas/petrochemical facility that involves leaking gas or fire, the consequences of failing to respond correctly can be devastating.

On February 12, the federal government announced a multimillion-dollar settlement with Shell Oil over a long list of air pollution violations at a petrochemical refinery in Norco, Louisiana. In a statement, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said the settlement "demonstrates EPA's dedication" to pursuing pollution violations and protecting public health.

OSHA has launched an investigation into what caused a drilling rig explosion this past January that left five dead in Pittsburg County, Oklahoma. An Oklahoma Corporation Commission investigation report said authorities learned at 8:45 a.m. Monday, January 22, that the well was on fire from an uncontrolled gas release. The report recommended that the operator should kill the well with heavy drilling mud, make sure it is stabilized with mud and cement plugs, and take soil samples by Feb. 23.

The U.S. government should continue rigorous inspection of offshore oil and gas development, more than a dozen Democratic senators said. The Department of Interior was called on to continue a study of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement's inspection program for offshore development. A group of 19 U.S. senators, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, pointed to lessons learned from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 as why continued rig inspections are necessary.

An oil and gas worker on a Talos Energy LLC platform in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico was killed on Saturday, February 17 while replacing piping, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) reproted. The worker was injured while removing out-of-service fire suppression equipment and later died as a result of the injuries. No other personnel were injured and there was no fire or release as a result of the accident, Talos said in a statement.

A Utica Shale well that XTO Energy Inc. and its contractors lost control of on February 15, 2018 was still spewing raw methane three weeks later in Ohio’s Belmont County. About 24 people were working at the Schnegg pad in York Township when contractors lost control of the well as they were pulling plugs and finishing up completion operations.

In the past decade, more than 300 oil and gas workers were killed in highway crashes, the largest cause of fatalities in the industry. Many of these deaths were due in part to oil field exemptions from highway safety rules that allow truckers to work longer hours than drivers in most other industries, according to an article in The New York Times.

An oil and gas industry organization has developed a set of tools intended to help make the business case for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). IPIECA, the oil and gas industry association’s for environmental and social issues, says the tools can also be used to improve internal company due diligence processes for social performance.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board says it will move forward with a full investigation into Monday’s fatal gas well explosion near Quinton, Oklahoma. Five workers were killed in the blast, which was followed by a fire that destroyed the drill site. Seventeen workers survived. Most had no or minor injuries; one was flown to a hospital in Tulsa for treatment.