The jury awarded $30.4 million to Gerardo Solis who worked in plants that processed diacetyl, a butter flavoring, for about 20 years. The verdict was against diacetyl supplier BASF Corp.

The jurors assessed compensatory damages of $32 million but subtracted 5% ($1.6 million) for his portion of fault because he continued to work in butter flavoring plants after his first breathing symptoms appeared.

Doctors diagnosed Solis with bronchiolitis obliterans, an incurable lung disease. He currently has only 25% normal lung capacity and will probably need a lung transplant.

According to Lawyers USA Online, Solis filed suit against more than a dozen companies, including the factories where he worked and the suppliers of the chemicals used to make the butter flavoring.

He settled with all the companies except BASF. Solis’ lawyer says BASF offered a $350,000 settlement which was rejected.

Solis’ attorney said a key piece of evidence was a study conducted by BASF’s parent company back in 1993 that showed rats exposed to diacetyl developed severe lung disease.

BASF says it will appeal the verdict.

OSHA is developing regulations on diacetyl and other flood flavorings.

What do you think about the jury’s verdict? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has completed its investigation into the Oct. 2, 2007, explosion at Xcel Energy’s Cabin Creek plant in Georgetown, CO, that killed five workers and injured three others.

The CSB identified 3 major causes of the incident:

1. a lack of planning and training for hazardous work by Xcel and its contractor, RPI Coating
2. Xcel’s selection of RPI despite its having the lowest possible safety rating (zero) among competing contractors, and
3. allowing volatile flammable liquids to be introduced into a permit-required confined space without necessary special precautions.

Painting contractors from RPI were recoating a 1,530-foot portion of a water tunnel when a flash fire suddenly erupted. Vapor from a flammable solvent ignited, most likely from a spark near the spraying machine. The solvent was used to clean spray-painting equipment.

The fire quickly spread as more solvent ignited. There were 10 workers in the tunnel at the time. Five were unable to get to the only available exit. Five workers made it out safely, although three were injured.

The closest confined space rescue unit was about 75 minutes away. The trapped workers died about an hour before the response unit arrived.

The CSB claims Xcel and RPI impeded the investigation. The agency had to seek assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s office in Denver. Xcel went to federal court seeking to block release of the CSB report. The court sided with CSB in favor of the report’s release.

OSHA’s confined space regulation doesn’t prohibit entry or work in confined spaces where the concentration of flammable vapor exceeds 10% of the chemical’s lower explosive limit (LEL).

The CSB recommends OSHA establish a fixed maximum percentage of the LEL for entry so that work in potentially flammable atmospheres would be prohibited.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has agreed to look into the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

However, it has told the House Energy and Commerce Committee that it will have to end some investigations early and delay others as a result.

Among the investigations that will close early:

• the explosion at the Kleen Energy power plant that killed six people in Middletown, CT, in February, and
• the explosion at the ConAgra Slim Jim facility that killed four people in Garner, NC, in June 2009.

The CSB will delay its investigation of the failure of a 10-inch pipe in a reactor at Silver Eagle Refining in Woods Cross, Utah. The explosion and its blast wave damaged more than 100 homes.

There are about 200 serious workplace chemical incidents each year in the U.S. The CSB usually investigates 12 to 15 of them with a staff of 40 and a $10.6 million budget.

By comparison, the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates plane, train and subway incidents, has 400 employees and an $80 million budget.

The CSB has asked for $2 million to hire more investigators and open a new Houston office.

It has no authority to issue citations or create new regulations, but chemical industry officials say the CSB has been instrumental in uncovering hazards that put workers and communities at risk.

Wisconsin Polishing and Plating of West Allis, WI, faces $75,400 in OSHA fines for 53 health violations associated with allowing workers to be overexposed to chromium and chromic acid.

A willful citation against the company is for allowing an employee to be exposed to hexavalent chromium above the permissible exposure limit (PEL).

The 50 serious violations include failure to:

• provide proper protective equipment for employees working with lead and other extremely dangerous dust and chemicals, and
• maintain material safety data information.

The company also received two other-than-serious violations. One of them was for not informing employees about their right to access medical or exposure information and records.

As usual, the company has 15 days to decide whether to contest the fines.

That’s the situation Sodexo, a Maryland company that provides facility management services to school districts, finds itself in.

Brian Barker was employed by Sodexo as manager of grounds keeping for the South Plainfield School District in New Jersey. Barker says he warned his managers at Sodexo about safety conditions, but the company didn’t take action. Then, Barker went to OSHA.

OSHA issued nine serious violations to Sodexo, including ones for:

• not having a working lock system on a cabinet used to store gasoline and diesel fuel
• failing to perform an assessment to determine if protective gear was needed by employees working with gasoline, diesel, weed killer and field-marking paint
• lack of safety training for workers
• failing to confirm that employees were competent to operate forklifts
• an overhead electrical junction box without an appropriate cover, and
• failing to develop, implement or maintain a hazard communication program for workers handling chemicals.

OSHA initially issued Sodexo $10,800 in fines. Sodexo recently settled the matter for $8,100.

Barker says four days after OSHA issued its findings to Sodexo, his position was eliminated without any justification, and he was fired.

Sodexo says it took immediate action to address the OSHA citations. It hasn’t issued any comment on Barker’s situation.

OSHA recently made it easier for employees to find information on the web about filing a retaliation complaint. It now has a dedicated web page with instructions on how to file a complaint at www.whistleblowers.gov

U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, wrote a letter to the CSB asking it to investigate the Gulf disaster.

The CSB’s resources had already been stretched thin with other disaster investigations such as major explosions at the Kleen Energy power plant in Middletown, CT, and the ConAgra Slim Jim facility in Garner, NC.

But, noting that the BP oil leak is “one of the most significant chemical accidents of the current era,” the CSB has decided to investigate the Gulf disaster.

The process will include the key investigators who were involved in the CSB’s 2005-2007 report on the BP Texas City explosion.

The CSB says it will examine key technical factors, the safety cultures involved, and the effectiveness of relevant laws, regulations and industry standards.

Three years ago, the CSB’s final report on the BP Texas City blast found:

• organizational and safety deficiencies at all levels of BP Corporation
• cost-cutting that had affected safety programs and critical maintenance
• production pressures that resulted in costly mistakes made by workers likely fatigued by working long hours, and
• lack of sufficient action on problems that were brought to the attention of BP’s board of directors.

You can read a statement from the CSB on its upcoming investigation here (PDF).

The heat.

Workers are required to wear boots, gloves and Tyvek coveralls — a thick suit that protects them from chemicals and oil.

But all that protective gear increases the chances for heat stroke.

High temperatures in the last ten days in the cleanup area have ranged from 91 to 94 degrees. One night the low only dropped to 80. The heat index has risen as high as 110.

Dozens of workers have already been treated for heat stroke, which, if not caught early enough, can lead to death.

Some people are working 12-hour shifts, 7 days a week in the cleanup effort.

BP has set up guidelines for cleanup workers to prevent heat stroke:

• Work begins early in the day to take advantage of cooler temperatures.
• Shaded rest areas are provided at all work areas.
• Workers are required to drink liquids and take rest breaks.
• Workers have received training about the hazards of working in the high heat.

The company and David Weber, its EHS Manager, are charged with involuntary manslaughter, reckless homicide, and environmental violations.

Company President David Brown and plant manager Jay Black are charged with criminal endangering.

On June 21, 2008, wastewater was being improperly treated using sodium hydrosulfide at United Oil’s Middletown plant, according to the Ohio Attorney General’s office.

Employee Thomas Rogers was killed. The coroner’s report said he died from hydrogen sulfide poisoning.

Involuntary manslaughter and reckless homicide carry penalties of up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Criminal endangering carried a penalty of up to 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.

An attorney for the company says it and its employees won’t plead guilty to the charges.

ERA Valdivia Contractors, Inc., of Chicago, faces $130,300 in OSHA fines for exposing workers to dangerous materials containing lead.

Following a November 2009 inspection, OSHA cited the company with two willful violations ($112,000 in fines) for failing to provide adequate personal protective equipment to employees working in and around lead while performing abrasive blasting and painting.

The company also faces eight serious citations ($18,300 in fines) for failure to:

• ensure workers use respirators in accordance with the conditions of certification
• prohibit use of respirators by employees with facial hair, and
• provide a clean changing area for employees.

ERA Valdivia has 15 days to decide whether to contest the fines.

OSHA has inspected the company 25 times since 1991 and issued numerous willful, serious and repeat violations, including ones for lead hazards.

Police in Westmont, IL, say William Zuponeck, a Midas Auto Services employee, was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.

According to the police report, sparks flew from a welding torch Zuponeck was using and ignited residual chemical vapors from the 55-gallon drum.

He was killed after being struck by objects that were thrown by the blast.

Police say the chemical may have been methanol which is used in window washer fluid to prevent it from freezing.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will review the antibacterial chemical, triclosan.

It’s found in liquid hand soap, deodorant bar soaps, face washes, deodorants, toothpastes and mouthwashes.

U.S. Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) has called for a ban on the chemical in personal care products. Markey cites concerns that use of triclosan may encourage the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Studies have shown that microbes resistant to triclosan also seem to have picked up resistance to other antibiotic drugs at the same time.

The FDA says triclosan isn’t known to be hazardous to people. But the agency is going to evaluate new evidence and come to some conclusion next year.

Triclosan stops or slows the growth of bacteria. It does help fight germs on your hands. But the common cold and stomach bugs are viruses, and triclosan doesn’t help fight those.

Some studies have found that, at the level contained in consumer products, washing with antibacterial soaps doesn’t kill more bacteria than washing with regular soaps.

However, at higher concentrations used in hospitals, it does improve germ removal.

Even without further FDA research, an article in the LA Times says many doctors, public health officials and environmentalists think triclosan isn’t worth the risk.

What do you think about antibacterial soaps? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

Through the Cell-All initiative directed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), cell phones could be equipped with sensors capable of detecting deadly chemicals.

How would they work? Cell-All would regularly sniff the surrounding air for certain volatile chemical compounds. If it detects, for example, a chlorine leak, a warning would be sounded for the user.

For potential catastrophes, such as a sarin gas attack, details, including time, location and the chemical compound detected, would be phoned to an emergency operations center.

All that — detection, identification and notification — would happen in less than 60 seconds.

If multiple phones send in an alert, emergency responders could get to the scene sooner and have a better idea where the chemical has already spread.

S&T is working with Qualcomm (a cell phone manufacturer that specializes in miniaturization), NASA and Rhevision Technology (a company that’s developed an artificial nose).

The goal is to get the cost down to a dollar a sensor and to develop it so it doesn’t wear down cell phones batteries.

Even though there have been some successful prototype demonstrations, it may take several years yet for the product to get to market. But Cell-All’s program manager, Stephen Dennis, says just as Bill Gates imagined a computer in every home, he imagines a chemical sensor in every cell phone.

Mark Buttitta was exposed to asbestos as a child. His father handled brakes and clutches containing the substance while working at a General Motors warehouse and carried the asbestos fibers home on his work clothes.

Buttitta was then directly exposed to asbestos while working at a GM warehouse during his summer and winter breaks from college.

In upholding the jury award, the largest mesothelioma award in New Jersey history, the Superior Court noted that the frequency, regularity and proximity test had to be viewed differently than the test for another asbestos-related disease, asbestosis.

Mesothelioma, a cancer that is often fatal, can develop from infrequent exposure to a relatively small amount of asbestos. Asbestosis usually requires much more prolonged exposure.

The court ruled that Buttitta’s “rather brief work history” with asbestos was enough to establish a medical link with his mesothelioma some 30 years later.

The $30.3 million award broke down this way: $8 million for pain and suffering, $2 million for loss of consortium, $9.3 million for lost earnings, $2 million for loss of services, and $3 million to each of Buttitta’s three daughters for loss of parental care.

Cite: Buttitta v. Allied Signal, Inc., Superior Court of NJ, 5/5/10.

Disasters of that magnitude usually launch a series of changes, either in prevention, response or both. Example: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) underwent significant changes after the much criticized response to Hurricane Katrina.

In this case, the changes came in the form of prevention — or, at least that’s what officials hope.

One person weighing in is John Bresland, Chairman of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board. CSB’s final report on the BP blast, issued three years ago, found:

• organizational and safety deficiencies at all levels of the BP Corporation
• cost-cutting that had affected safety programs and critical maintenance
• production pressures that resulted in costly mistakes made by workers likely fatigued by working long hours, and
• although problems were brought to the attention of BP’s board, there wasn’t sufficient action.

Bresland notes that BP has spent over $1 billion repairing and improving the Texas City plant. It’s also spent a similar amount on settling lawsuits with those injured and families of the deceased. He says it gives new meaning to the old adage, “If you think safety is expensive, wait until you have an accident.”

“When will we know whether the tragedy of 2005 has resulted in greater safety at BP and other companies’ refineries?” Bresland asked. “Only when we can look back over the passing of a significant number of years without major accidents, deaths, or injuries.”

In the Houston Chronicle, business columnist Loren Steffy writes, “BP can’t escape the ugly truth: Without the 15 deaths, the company wouldn’t have fixed what was wrong.”

BP’s troubles aren’t over, either. It faces $87.4 million in OSHA fines (the largest OSHA fine ever), on top of ones it has already paid. The agency says the company hasn’t lived up to all portions of the settlement agreement regarding the Texas City plant. BP is appealing that fine.

OSHA has also fined BP $3 million for problems at a plant in Ohio. Other oil companies have been penalized under OSHA’s National Emphasis Program on refineries, prompted by the Texas City explosion.

How do you put the safety problems that U.S. oil refineries face in perspective? “If the airline industry was having the same number of accidents as the refinery industry, I don’t think too many people would be flying,” Bresland said.

Do you think BP and other oil companies have learned a lesson? Let us know your thoughts in the Comments Box below.

An explosion at Superior Asphalt in Grand Rapids, MI, left 34-year-old Bill Zetty with second and third degree burns on most of his upper body, including his arms, chest and face.

Doctors put Zetty in a medical coma because the burns were so painful. His sister, Penny Nagelhout, says when they change the dressings, not even the induced coma can keep him down. He wakes up in the worst pain.

Doctors won’t know for a while whether he’ll need to have skin grafts.

Although the exact cause of the explosion hasn’t been determined, the company owner told a local TV station that Zetty was lighting a torch head without realizing gas was leaking.

Zetty’s sister says her brother often worked long hours at the request of the company, sometimes as much as 30 hours straight.

“He could have been tired out of his mind,” she said. “Employers need to make sure employees are working the proper amount of hours.”

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board recently issued a safety bulletin outlining seven key lessons for employees about hot work in and around storage tanks.

Radiological Assistance, Consulting and Engineering LLC, dba Studsvik LLC, will pay $650,000 to settle the lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

According to the EEOC’s suit, African American employees were subjected to racially offensive comments by their white supervisor. The EEOC also said white managers subjected the African American employees to excessive radiation exposure, more than their white co-workers.

Allegedly the dosimeters that recorded the workers’ radiation exposure were manipulated to mask the true levels, the suit said.

The consent decree isn’t an admission of guilt by the company. Studsvik bought the company from its original owners. The purchase agreement included a provision placing responsibility for the settlement on the former owners.

It all started with the Las Vegas Sun’s series of articles after several construction workers died on big building projects along the city’s infamous strip. The Sun won a Pulitzer journalism prize for its reporting.

Judges gave the Public Service award to the Sun, “for the exposure of the high death rate among construction workers on the Las Vegas Strip amid lax enforcement of regulations, leading to changes in policy and improved safety conditions.”

Now a West Virginia newspaper has leveled criticism at OSHA for the number of inspectors that cover the state in the wake of an employee death at a DuPont plant.

Carl Fish died one day after being exposed to phosgene from a leaking transfer hose at the plant in Bell, WV.

In the Sustained Outrage blog for The Charleston Gazette, Ken Ward Jr. writes, “12 OSHA officers must cover the entire state, inspecting power plants, steel mills, logging operations and all other workplaces except coal mines. Only nine of those 12 are full-time inspectors. It would take the OSHA office in Charleston nearly 100 years to inspect every workplace” in West Virginia.

Ward notes the last time the DuPont plant was inspected was five years ago.

Earlier this month, KCET-TV in California, through its So-Cal Connected program, aired a report based on an investigation of Cal-OSHA.

“Many of the inspectors who enforce California’s worker safety laws say the system is strained if not broken,” KCET’s report said. Specifically, the investigation calls into question the practice of significantly reducing the OSHA fines paid by companies found to be in violation of safety regulations.

The Sun’s report caught the attention of federal OSHA. Among its priorities is to check on the 26 state workplace safety agencies.

Do you agree with the media reporting of the last few years that state and federal OSHA programs are understaffed and largely ineffective? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

You can also take our poll on OSHA inspectors on our home page.

A federal jury reached that verdict in connection with an April 19, 2007, poisonous chemical leak at its Texas City, TX, plant. The workers claimed BP failed to maintain equipment and provide adequate safety controls.

BP says it will appeal. The company argues there is no evidence workers were exposed to toxic substances above federal permissible limits.

The jury awarded each worker $10 million in punitive damages, as well as actual damages to cover medical expenses and lost income, ranging from $6,000 to $244,000 each.

Anthony Buzbee, the lawyer representing the 10 workers, says he plans to file lawsuits for an additional 133 workers at the plant.

OSHA and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality investigated the 2007 incident. However, the investigations were closed without any notice of violations.

The workers were exposed to carbon disulfide, a harmful chemical that made them feel like they had flu symptoms. Monitors workers were wearing weren’t designed to track the chemical.

One of the workers in the case, 30-year-old Chuck Taylor, spent two nights in the hospital with chest pains after the incident. He still has headaches, dizziness and fatigue.

“The reason I brought the case is because BP’s record is so horrific, and despite deaths and injuries that continue to occur, nothing’s changed,” said Buzbee.

The Texas City plant was also the location where 15 employees were killed and dozens more were injured in a 2005 explosion and fire. BP paid a $50 million fine for that incident, and OSHA has proposed another $87 million in fines for failing to make safety upgrades required under a settlement agreement.

What do you think of the jury’s verdict? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

Despite the request by CITGO not to release the video, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board made it public.

The CSB is involved in an ongoing investigation of the July 19, 2009, explosion and fire at the company’s refinery in Corpus Christi, TX. One person was injured and another treated for possible chemical exposure.

As part of an interim report, the CSB released the video showing a pipe failure, release of fumes, and the resulting fire. The video shows the spread of the flammable vapor cloud and the moment when the flammable vapor was ignited. It’s a vivid picture of the severity of the release and fire.

CITGO asked CSB not to release the video on national security grounds saying that it would “only sensationalize this unfortunate accident.”

The CSB received the OK to release the video from the Department of Homeland Security, which said the footage didn’t fall under certain classifications requiring protection from disclosure.

A new law prohibits companies from classifying safety information as “sensitive” in an effort to keep it from becoming public. The law was in response to the August 2008 Bayer CropScience explosion in West Virginia that killed two.

The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee accused Bayer of withholding critical information from emergency responders and investigators and the CSB.

Do you think the CSB was correct to release the video? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

Workers sue to be compensated for the time spent changing clothes and showering at the end of each work shift. Do they win? You be the judge.

Maintenance workers at two paper mills owned by Domtar Industries claimed their clothes, skin and hair were regularly exposed to hazardous chemicals such as calcium oxide (aka lime dust).

To reduce exposure to these chemicals, the workers shower and change after their shifts. They usually aren’t compensated for this time.

The workers filed claims for overtime under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Domtar said it has a policy that requires employees who’ve been exposed to a hazardous chemical to immediately remove any affected clothing and wash the area. The company pays employees for the time spent changing clothes and showering when they have definitely been exposed to a hazardous chemical. If that time is after their regular shift ends, they are paid OT.

However, Domtar refused to pay for time showering just because employees might have been exposed.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Alvarez case that an employee can be compensated for washing up or changing clothes if those activities are “integral” and “indispensable” to the worker’s job.

To support their argument, the employees noted:

• the potential for them to get lime dust on their work clothing and skin
• occasions when an employee was unaware that chemicals were on him until he got home, and
• times when there has been a delayed reaction to being exposed to chemicals.

The Decision

The court threw out the lawsuit. Reason: The court said the employees’ claims were based on their speculation that they may have hazardous chemicals on their skin. Their argument failed because it was based on speculation and not on evidence. It didn’t pass the “integral” and “indispensable” test set up by the Supreme Court.

What do you think about the court’s ruling? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

Cite: Musch v. Domtar Industries, U.S. Circuit Crt. 7, No. 08-4305, 11/25/09. Download opinion here (PDF).

One truck driver was killed and another was critically injured when ammonia leaked during a loading operation at CF Industries’ Pine Bend Terminal in Rosemount, MN.

The leak immediately killed 31-year-old Robert Shue and critically injured 56-year-old Roy Taylor.

Two law enforcement officers are being credited with saving Taylor’s life by pulling him 35 feet away from the location of the leak.

The ammonia leaked when a connection between a supply tank and a truck failed.

A driver had noticed a problem with the connection and tried to fix it. The connection broke, causing the leak. The leak was quickly cut off, but the ammonia escaped quickly, creating a toxic cloud that proved fatal.

The Pioneer Press reports that CF Industries has had no safety violations at any of its facilities in the last five years.

The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry named one of CF’s locations a Star work site. The program recognizes companies for putting systems in place to identify and eliminate safety hazards.

Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) originally drafted The American Communities Right to Public Information Act as a separate piece of legislation. It was passed into law as part of an appropriations bill for The Department of Homeland Security.

The amendment makes clear that the Sensitive Security Information designation created by recent homeland security laws can’t be used to withhold information that the government should share with the public.

The legislation was drafted in response to the Bayer CropScience explosion in August 2008 that killed two workers in Institute, WV.

The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee accused Bayer of using a “campaign of secrecy” regarding the explosion.

The committee said Bayer withheld critical information from emergency responders and investigators from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board.

The appropriations bill says information may not be designated as security sensitive “to conceal a violation of law, inefficiency, or administrative error … to prevent embarrassment to a person, organization or agency … to restrain competition … or to prevent or delay the release of information that doesn’t require protection in the interest of transportation security, including basic scientific research information.”

The agency has cited Sealcoating, Inc., of Hingham, MA, for $38,100 in violations after a nighttime inspection on its bridge restoration work.

The contractor was cited for 11 alleged repeat and serious violations as part of OSHA’s Boston North Area Office’s efforts to inspect construction projects where silica is generated.

“Employers should not assume that OSHA will not conduct inspections because much of their work is done at night,” said Paul Mangiafico, an OSHA area director.

Among the citations:

• employees exposed to excess silica levels while jack hammering concrete
• no controls to lower exposure levels
• failure to evaluate employees’ exposure levels
• inadequate respirator protection program and training, and
• no fit-testing of respirators.

The company has 15 days to decide whether to appeal the citations.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has found that the explosion and fire that killed four employees at T2 Laboratories in Jacksonville, FL, on Dec. 19, 2007, was caused by a runaway chemical reaction that likely resulted from an inadequate reactor cooling system.

The CSB report says T2 didn’t recognize all of the potential hazards of its manufacturing process.

The explosion was so powerful that 28 people working at nearby businesses were injured when building walls and windows blew in. The blast damaged buildings within a quarter-mile of the T2 facility.

Reactive chemical hazards are a major cause of workplace deaths and serious injuries. A previous CSB report identified 167 incidents over a two-decade period and made recommendations to improve reactive chemical safety.

OSHA has cited Stavis Seafoods with 15 serious violations at its Boston facility. The company faces $47,250 in fines.

PSM requires employers to proactively assess and address hazards associated with processes and equipment that use large amounts of hazardous chemicals. In this case, the chemical is anhydrous ammonia used in the facility’s refrigeration system.

Among the violations:

• initial evaluation of hazards associated with the refrigeration system hadn’t been conducted
• lack of written procedures covering process changes or to maintain ongoing mechanical integrity of equipment
• process safety information hadn’t been updated to reflect changes
• PSM program wasn’t audited every three years, and
• employee maintaining refrigeration system hadn’t received annual emergency response training and respirator fit testing.

The company has 15 business days to decide whether to contest any of the citations.

That’s what happened when it recently issued citations against Sinton Dairy Foods Co. of Englewood, CO. OSHA issued one willful violation to the company for failure to follow an established preventive maintenance program for an anhydrous ammonia refrigeration system.

OSHA also issued serious violations concerning electrical hazards and mechanical integrity procedures for ammonia systems.

Total fine: $50,575.

Sinton has 15 days to comply, request a conference with OSHA or contest the fines.

OSHA’s intent, announced recently as part of a release about a new national emphasis program, is to spend the next year hitting as many facilities as possible. OSHA calls it a new approach for compliance officers: Ask a series of tough questions and quickly move on to the next facility.

But don’t mistake “quick” for “easy.”  The goal is to verify that written and implemented PSM programs are consistent.

And acting OSHA head Jordan Barab has made it clear that compliance with PSM standards is a top priority.

Michaels, a professor at The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, detailed his views in Congressional testimony two years ago.

To paraphrase, he saw the agency as weak, unmotivated, understaffed, heavily impeded and generally ineffective.

Here are a few excerpts, which clearly signal his views on recordkeeping, ergonomics, rulemaking and the General Duty Clause, among other topics:

• “Preventable work related injuries and illnesses … are unacceptably high. Furthermore, the true incidence of these conditions is far higher than reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.”
• OSHA enforcement does not appear to be effective in further reducing injury rates. …  Statistical analyses indicate that (any reported) decrease can be attributable to changes in OSHA recordkeeping rules.
• “For most hazardous chemicals, OSHA’s standards are either inadequate or totally absent. One could write a book about the hazards that OSHA has failed to regulate adequately.”
• “The primary blame (for OSHA’s failure to issue appropriate health standards) rests in a system that makes OSHA standard setting inordinately difficult and resource-intensive.”
• “OSHA has abandoned the general duty clause. It is time for the agency to start using it again.”
• “Ergonomic injuries cost employers $15-20 billion annually in workers’ compensation costs alone, yet this number one workplace safety and health problem is not even mentioned on OSHA’s most recent regulatory agenda.”
• “OSHA doesn’t have the staff to work on more than one or two standards at a time, and … each standard takes years to complete. Unless things change radically, only a handful of the thousands of chemicals in daily use in American workplaces will ever be the subject of an OSHA standard.”

There’s no question that OSHA will change radically if Michaels is approved by the Senate and moves his agenda forward — an aggressive approach that Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and interim OSHA head Jordan Barab appear to have already set in motion.

Do you expect OSHA to make your job tougher in the coming years? Tell us what you think in the Comment Box below.

1. When it comes to safety, training and prevention are a lot less expensive than the alternative.

2. Even when workers’ compensation laws are unwieldy and a nuisance, there’s a lot to be said for “exclusive remedy” provisions.

3. You never want any case to end up in the hands of a jury.

It happened in Texas, the only state where workers’ comp participation is still voluntary. An industrial worker lost most of the vision in one eye after being sprayed by acid.

He sued, claiming the acid-addition system he was working on had been negligently designed because it lacked a pressure ventilator and failed to properly vent.

The trial lasted two weeks. But the sympathetic jury took less than two days. Its verdict: a $9.6 million award to the partially blinded employee.

The jury assigned 75% of the blame to the company that designed the system, 20% to his employer and only 5% to the employee himself.

Lab assistant Sheri Sangji was burned over about half of her body and died 18 days after the lab fire. She was transferring about 2 ounces of t-butyl lithium from one sealed container to another when a plastic syringe fell apart in her hands.

The chemical ignited when it was exposed to air, setting her rubber gloves and synthetic sweater on fire.

UCLA paid $31,875 in fines for violations including Sangji’s lack of a special fire-resistant lab coat and lack of proper employee training.

However, it appealed the citations for a technical reason: so that the citations couldn’t be used against UCLA in any future proceeding, such as a lawsuit.

In a written statement, UCLA said, “The university wants to direct its resources to strengthening laboratory safety programs and building a model for other institutions to follow … our limited appeal of Cal/OSHA’s citations has detracted from that effort.”

Meanwhile, Cal/OSHA chief Len Welsh will oversee a criminal investigation of the fatal fire, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Sangji’s family has criticized Cal/OSHA’s civil probe as inadequate.

If Cal/OSHA finds evidence of a crime, it will turn the case over to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office for possible prosecution.

The criminal fine is the maximum allowed. Tyson will also be on probation for one year.

On Oct. 10, 2003, at Tyson’s River Valley Animal Foods plant in Texarkana, AR, maintenance employee Jason Kelley was overcome by the fumes while repairing a leak from a hydrolyzer. Another employee and two emergency responders were hospitalized due to exposure during the rescue attempt.

Federal laws require employers to take steps that limit employee exposure to hazardous substances such as hydrogen sulfide gas.

The gas at the Tyson plant came from the decomposition of biological material such as poultry feathers.

The U.S. Department of Justice statement on the Tyson case is here.

An official says UCLA is appealing the citations so that they can’t be used against the university in any future proceeding, such as a lawsuit or criminal prosecution, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Lab assistant Sheri Sangji was transferring about 2 ounces of t-butyl lithium from one sealed container to another when a plastic syringe came apart in her hands.

The chemical ignited when it was exposed to air, setting her rubber gloves and synthetic sweater ablaze. She was burned over about half of her body and died 18 days later.

Part of the fine, $18,000, was for Sangji’s lack of a lab coat. UCLA was also fined for lack of proper employee training.

UCLA’s fear of further action against it is quite real. Cal-OSHA regularly refer workplace fatalities to district attorneys for review.

Sangji’s sister is calling for a DA investigation, and more than 1,300 people have signed an online petition calling for one.

Another possibility is a lawsuit by a labor union. Sangji’s family may be prevented from filing a lawsuit because of laws that make workers’ comp the exclusive remedy for relatives of a killed employee.

As part of its investigation, Cal-OSHA noted UCLA had not addressed deficiencies found in its own internal safety inspection two months before the fatal fire, including a finding that workers weren’t wearing lab coats.

Lesson for other companies: If your own internal safety audit finds deficiencies, not taking quick action can prove costly.

BETHESDA, MD, May 20, 2009-The Alliance of Hazardous Materials Professionals^TM (AHMP), formerly the Academy of Certified Hazardous Materials Managers, has expanded its Online Course Library by more than 200 courses, announces A. Cedric Calhoun, CAE, the association’s executive director.

“AHMP is constantly seeking quality programming that meets the emerging informational, educational and training needs of its members,” says Calhoun. “These new online training courses respond to the demands that are challenging AHMP members and all environmental, health, safety and security (EHS&S) professionals today. AHMP is excited to launch these courses that also meet the professional development and budgetary needs of our members and other hazardous materials professionals.”

AHMP is partnering with OverNite Software, inc., an Angleton, Texas-based cutting-edge designer of learning management and delivery solutions, to deliver educational programming to a wide range of EHS&S professionals and to leverage the company’s off-the-shelf courseware that has been customized for AHMP’s Web site.

OverNite Software is the creator of ExxTend Learning^TM, an online learning- management system, and is a “Green”, or top level-sponsor, of AHMP through the association’s Corporate & Community Relations Partnership Program.

Each new course offering is affordable and is accessible 24/7 on the AHMP Web site from an Internet-ready computer. The registration fee for these new courses ranges from $25 to $70 for AHMP members and $40 to $90 for nonmembers.

“In these tough economic times AHMP is delivering on its commitment to the hazardous materials management and EHS&S profession to make its online courses affordable, accessible and relevant,” says Calhoun.

AHMP’s new courses offerings deliver instruction in:

• Environmental Health and Safety
• First Responder
• HAZWOPER
• Human Resources
• Industrial Fundamentals
• Municipal Environmental, Health and Safety Off-the-Job Safety Port Facility Security Process Operations Security for Professionals

AHMP members and other EHS&S professionals can visit the AHMP Online Course Library for the description, learning objectives, estimated completion time and number of certification maintenance points (CMP) awarded for each course.

To learn more about the AHMP Online Course Library, the current EHS&S course offerings or to register for a course today visit http://www.achmm.org/jump/online_ehs_training.htm. AHMP members and other EHS&S professionals also may contact AHMP at (800) 437-0137 or at info@ahmpnet.org.

About AHMP

AHMP is an international membership organization that fosters the professional development of its members through educational programs, peer group interaction and recognition of the Certified Hazardous Materials Managers® (CHMM®) credential and other credentials as standards of excellence in the environmental, health, safety and security (EHS&S) industry. AHMP is comprised of more than 56 chapters in 37 states and more than 4,000 hazardous materials professionals throughout the world.

Metalor Technologies faces $46,500 in fines relating to a chlorine leak at the plant on Nov. 7, 2008.

The leak forced more than 200 people to evacuate. Officials said two employees were changing a one-ton chlorine bottle when a hose fractured and released chlorine into the air. The two employees weren’t injured because they were wearing protective gear.

OSHA has cited the company for 10 serious violations involving deficiencies in the plant’s Process Safety Management program, including failure to:

• compile information on the chemicals, technology and equipment used in the purifying process
• perform an initial process hazard analysis
• develop and implement written procedures covering the process
• audit the process at least once every three years, and
• obtain and evaluate the safety and health programs of outside contractors working in the plant.

The company has 15 days to decide whether to contest the fines.

OSHA is establishing a Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) panel to review a proposed rule on occupational exposure to food flavorings that contain diacetyl.

The SBREFA process allows small businesses to review the proposal and comment before it’s enacted.

Workers in microwave popcorn and candy plants have come down with a sometimes fatal lung disease, bronchiolitis obliterans, after working with diacetyl.

OSHA has also started the process of drafting a rule regarding combustible dust in the workplace.

The agency expects to issue an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to evaluate possible regulations.

Since 1980, more than 130 workers have been killed and more than 780 injured in combustible dust explosions, including 14 deaths at an Imperial Sugar Co. plant in Georgia on Feb. 7, 2008.

You can find more information about diacetyl here, and more about combustible dust here.