“BP’s image has been tarnished somewhat by its involvement with the controversial Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, criticised for human rights abuses, environmental and safety concerns. July 2006, a group of Colombian farmers won a multimillion pound settlement from BP after the British oil and gas company was accused of benefiting from a regime of terror carried out by Colombian government paramilitaries to protect a 450-mile pipeline.”

In July 1988 the Piper Alpha disaster led to a series of strikes on North Sea oil rigs. Workers wanted union recognition and improved safety rights. BP did not agree and started to recruit non-union labour.In 1989 a number of workers at two BP-owned plants in Brazil were said to be suffering from pulmonary silicosis, as a result of inhaling dust containing silica at the plants.In 1990, two explosions in ten days at BP’s Grangemouth refinery cost the lives of three workers and the company £750,000 for breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act.

—Source: The Ethical Consumer Guide to Everyday Shopping published by the Ethical Consumer Research Association.

—Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BP