BP continues to have serious workplace safety problems. The giant petroleum company that killed 15 workers and injured 180 in an explosion at its Texas City refinery in 2005 has just confirmed two recent contractor fatalities.

The first fatality occurred on the Alaskan North Slope on Nov. 13, when a worker walking across a drill pad apparently fell, striking his head, said BP spokesman Ronnie Chappell.

The second man died Nov. 17, after the drilling of a well in Eastern Oklahoma had been completed. That contract worker was helping to prepare the rig to be moved when he also sustained a fatal head-injury.

The two accidents, which haven't been previously reported, follow a long chain of recent problems that include a major refinery explosion and a pair of major oil spills in Alaska.

All 15 fatalities in Texas City were also contractors.

Meanwhile, the company has also received $384,000 in fines from Indiana OSHA for safety violations at their refinery in Whiting, Indiana.

The office cited the British oil company for 14 violations, ranging from inadequate record-keeping to not correcting problems with relief-valve systems at the plant.

A BP spokesman said the company already has addressed more than half of the violations, none of which was the result of worker injury or environmental damage, and is working to resolve the rest.

BP received a 21.3 million penalty for violations relating to the Texas City explosion, and last April OSHA fined the company $2.4 million for violations at a Toledo, Ohio, refinery.

More BP stories here.

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