OSHA cites company after 2 accidents in 1 week
OSHA cites company after 2 accidents in 1 week
Following two separate accidents within a week, including one fatality, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Active Oil Services in Newark, NJ, for alleged safety and health violations and proposed penalties totaling $183,900. The company is a contractor specializing in tank cleaning, tank removals, and environmental work.
The first incident prompting an OSHA inspection occurred on Aug. 3, 1999, when Active Oil was engaged in a clean-out operation of an underground storage tank containing a flammable liquid at Tirenergy Corp. in Wind Gap, PA. The contents of the tank exploded, killing one employee and injuring two others.
George Tomchick, area director of the OSHA Allentown Office, says the company was issued three willful violations, with a proposed penalty of $126,000, and four serious violations, with a penalty of $14,100. The willful violations include:
• failure to obtain information on potential hazards at the site from the host employer;
• failure to adequately train personnel responsible for supervising confined space entry operations;
• burning and cutting on a vessel which contained a flammable liquid without thoroughly cleaning the vessel to ensure no fire or explosion hazard existed.
The serious violations relate to both OSHA’s Permit-Required Confined Space Standard and its Respiratory Protection Standard, including:
• failure to prevent unauthorized entry into a permit-required confined space;
• failure to identify and evaluate hazards prior to entry of confined space;
• failure to test conditions within the space prior to entry being authorized;
• failure to test or monitor the space to determine if acceptable conditions are being maintained;
• failure to prepare entry permit prior to allowing entry;
• failure to provide a medical evaluation to de-termine an employee’s ability to use a respirator;
• failure to provide fit testing to employees required to use tight-fitting face piece respirators;
• failure to provide training to respirator users.
OSHA also cited Tirenergy Corp. for two serious violations, proposing a $2,850 penalty. Tirenergy, a start-up company, which recycles used tires, hired Active Oil to clean its 10,000-gallon underground storage tank. The serious violations relate to the company’s failure as a host employer to inform contractors of the presence of permit-required confined spaces on the premises; failure to apprise contractors of the hazards related to the permit space in which the contractor would be working; and failure to develop and implement a hazard communication program, including provisions to share information with contractors who had employees working on site.
"Both of these companies took an unnecessary chance with the lives of the employees working on this project by not following OSHA guidelines. And as result, one life was lost," Tomchick says.
Employer failed to follow its own procedures
The second incident occurred on Aug. 9, 1999, at the Temple Tefilo-Israel in South Orange, NJ. Two Active Oil employees were in the process of cleaning an in-ground oil tank and fell unconscious. According to David Ippolito, area director of the Parsippany, NJ, OSHA office, the company was issued one willful, two serious and one other-than-serious citations.
The willful violation, carrying a proposed penalty of $42,000, was due to the employer’s failure to ensure that safe confined space entry procedures were followed, including evaluating the confined space for a safe atmosphere and providing for emergency rescue of workers inside the tank.
The serious violations include not providing medical evaluations for employers required to use respirators and not providing respirator fit tests for employees, carrying a proposed penalty of $1,800. The employer was also cited for one other-than-serious violation for failing to maintain respirator fit test records, which carries no penalty.
"This employer established safety procedures for entry into dangerous confined spaces, but chose not to follow its own procedures," Ippolito says.
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