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.

The explosion and fire at the Bayer CropScience plant last August was caused by a thermal runaway reaction during production of insecticide.

A vessel ruptured and flew about 50 feet through the air, demolishing equipment, twisting steel beams, and breaking pipes and conduits.

Eight others were treated and released from a local hospital for chemical exposure.

The CSB says the situation could have been even worse. The explosion happened within 80 feet of a pressure vessel containing more than 13,000 pounds of methyl isocyanate (MIC). That’s the same chemical that caused thousands of deaths in Bhopal, India, 25 years ago.

The preliminary results also state that the explosion was partially caused by a workaround which involved defeating safety interlocks. Plant management had known about the workaround for some time.

OSHA had already fined Bayer $143,000. Bayer is contesting those fines. CSB doesn’t have the authority to issue fines.

The investigation is continuing. The CSB wanted to release preliminary information for the benefit of residents near the plant.

For more information on the CSB investigation, click here.

Four employees of furniture manufacturer Franklin Corp. of Houston, MS, sued the company for injuries they suffered from a hazardous glue they used.

Franklin argued that the lawsuit shouldn’t be allowed. It said the matter should have gone before the state’s Workers’ Compensation Commission.

The employees said Franklin ignored their complaints and information about exposure contained on the glue’s Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS). They also claimed the company didn’t properly ventilate the factory.

A court allowed the case to go to trial, and a jury awarded damages totaling $9.5 million to the workers. A judge reduced that amount to $3.76 million.

The company appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court which found that the lower court had ruled correctly in letting the case go to a jury trial because there were “genuine issues of fact as to whether there was intent to injure.”

You can download the court’s decision here (free Adobe Acrobat Reader required).

Severe cases of popcorn lung — also known as bronchiolitis obliterans — have been found in at least five former candy factory workers.

The five worked as candy makers at a now closed Brach’s Candy plant in Chicago, according to Andrew Schneider’s online article.

The plant made butterscotch and butter toffee among other sweets.

One former employee, Doris Stubbs, has to use oxygen almost all the time. Stubbs says some former co-workers have died from breathing problems.

Since the initial reports of employee sickness centered around those working in popcorn plants that used the butter flavoring diacetyl, investigations centered on that industry.

However, some in the safety and health community have questioned whether workers in other food manufacturing plants using diacetyl may also be affected.

The fact that this plant is no longer in operation poses a problem. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) can’t perform a Health Hazards Evaluation on a closed plant.

However, Schneider quotes a Teamster official as saying they are having discussions with OSHA about inspecting candy plants in Tennessee.

OSHA has a National Emphasis Program (NEP) to target popcorn manufacturing facilities for inspection. You can read more about the NEP here.

OSHA has proposed more than $1.2 million in penalties relating to the handling of hazardous chemicals at G.S. Robins & Co., dba Ro-Corp, Inc., in East St. Louis, MO.

Ro-Corp faces 21 willful citations, 20 of which were cited on a per-instance basis:

• 8 instances of failing to provide employees with the correct PPE for transferring para-nitroaniline (PNA), a poison
• 4 instances of failing to provide training on the use of PPE and on working with hazardous chemicals
• 3 instances of failing to provide PPE training and training on specific PNA-transfer procedures, and
• 5 instances of failing to fit-test employees using respirators.

OSHA also issued a repeat citation for failing to provide an eyewash/shower in corrosive chemical areas and 16 serious citations for hazards associated with the transfer of PNA and other workplace practices.

PNA is highly toxic and can be fatal if swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin.

OSHA investigated Ro-Corp after learning that employees had been admitted to several local hospitals after being contaminated with an unknown powder that turned out to be PNA. All employees recovered after treatment.

To learn more about OSHA’s ability to issue fines on a per-employee basis, click here.

A federal court has ruled against a challenge of the rules by three safety groups. Public Citizen Health Research Group (HRG) and a steelworkers union had argued that the 5 micrograms per cubic meter (ug/m3) PEL is insufficiently protective of workers. The two groups had sued to get a stricter standard for welding, aircraft painting, electroplating and some other tasks.

The Edison Electric Institute also sued and lost. It said OSHA shouldn’t have applied its hex chrome standard to maintenance and repair employees at coal and nuclear electric power plants.

The court did rule in favor of HRG on one point.

OSHA has been ordered to defend its employee notification requirements in the hex chrome standard.

But in the meantime, the employee notification requirements will stand until OSHA studies them.

The standard requires employers to notify workers when monitored exposures exceed the 5 ug/m3 PEL.

HRG wants employees to be notified of all monitoring results, which was part of OSHA’s original hex chrome proposal.

OSHA had originally proposed a 1 ug/m3 PEL but adopted the 5 ug/m3 standard instead. It concluded that the lower limit wasn’t feasible for all industries.

Cite: Public Citizen et al v. U.S. Dept. of Labor, OSHA, U.S. Circuit Crt. 3, Nos. 06-1818 and 06-2604, 2/23/09.

NIOSH can’t issue fines. According to its Web site, NIOSH “is the federal agency responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness.”

In its efforts to research the health impact on workers who deal with the food flavoring diacetyl, NIOSH conducted an investigation at Sensient Flavors International in Indianapolis at the request of the local Teamsters union representing the plant’s workers. Diacetyl has killed several and sickened hundreds of food plant workers.

The Teamsters told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s senior correspondent Andrew Schneider that Sensient had altered its production process while NIOSH was inspecting and taking air samples. The union claims NIOSH didn’t get an accurate look at normal conditions at the plant.

NIOSH uncovered “pulmonary abnormalities” in its first inspection and demanded a second look to gather more information.

Sensient is fighting NIOSH’s request, saying that the agency is “attempting to use Sensient’s facility as its own personal laboratory.” It says the agency can look once, but not twice.

The case is now in federal court.

OSHA is considering a regulation on diacetyl and food flavorings.

OSHA has issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on occupational exposure to diacetyl and food flavorings containing the substance.

The proposal seeks public comments on issues including methods to evaluate and monitor exposure, controls, employee training, and medical monitoring.

OSHA is accepting comments through April 21. The Federal Register notice is online here.

The agency has also issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to establish revised procedures for fit testing respiratory protection face masks.

In 1998, OSHA issued the revised Respiratory Protection Standard, which incorporated two categories of respirator fit tests. Some tests expose wearers to airborne agents to determine if they can detect them. Other tests use a machine to measure how much of a test agent leaks into a mask.

The proposed revisions would allow certain machine-based fit tests to be conducted more quickly and increase the required score for passing them.

Comments on this proposal are due by March 23. It’s online here.

1-BP is used to clean electronics and metal. In some states, it’s also being used as an alternative in the dry cleaning industry instead of perchloroethylene, which is considered “probably carcinogenic to humans” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Now, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) says the solvent may represent an unrecognized occupational health risk.

In a recent Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, NIOSH presents two cases of workers exposed to 1-BP who were diagnosed with clinical manifestations of neurotoxicity. The cases were from the electronics and dry cleaning industries.

Also, the National Toxicology Program (NTP) has concluded that there’s sufficient evidence of developmental and reproductive toxicity among animals exposed to 1-BP.

NIOSH doesn’t have a Recommended Exposure Limit (REL), nor does OSHA has a Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL) for 1-BP.

The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) recommends an 8-hour time weighted average (TLV) of 10 perts per million (ppm).

EPA says exposures within or below the range of 17 to 30 ppm are anticipated to be protective against reproductive effects in men and women.

NIOSH recommends engineering controls and work practices, including personal protective equipment, to limit workers’ exposure where 1-BP is manufactured, used, handled or stored.

The agency continues to study the solvent.

That’s the preliminary conclusion of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB), which will now conduct a full, detailed investigation into the Nov. 12 incident at Allied Terminals in Chesapeake, VA.

The welding was performed in 2006 to strengthen four fertilizer tanks that were built around 1929.

CSB’s lead investigator said the agency found incomplete penetration of the welding metal into joints. The welding defects likely weakened the tank and led to its failure when liquid inside was raised to just three inches below its recommended safe fill height.

The investigation also determined that the three other large fertilizer tanks likely have similar welding defects. One of the tanks is just 250 feet from homes.

CSB recommends Allied conduct an independent engineering analysis for the remaining tanks.

John Bresland, CSB chairman, said, “it appears that no federal, state, or local agency has clear regulatory and enforcement responsibility for the safety of non-petroleum aboveground storage tanks.”

Part of CSB’s ongoing investigation will be to determine whether additional safeguards are necessary at national and state levels.

The tank collapse seriously injured two contract workers, who were hospitalized. Two members of the public who tried to help the injured men required treatment, likely related to exposure to ammonia vapor.

The fertilizer overtopped a containment dike and flooded sections of a nearby residential neighborhood.