March 22, 2011
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited a Refrigerated Services company with 16 alleged safety and health violations. These citations follow an investigation conducted after an incident in which 152 workers were overcome by ammonia vapors. In August 2010, Anhydrous Ammonia leaked out of a pipe located on the roof of the Refrigerated Services facility, due to hydraulic shock within the pipe. At approximately the same time, a failure with a suction header on one of the evaporators to a blast freezer also occurred inside the building. The company was unaware of the leak on the roof until a crane operator was overcome by vapors and fell while trying evacuating the crane cab a ship that was being loaded at the facility. The vapors not only affected employees but it carried across the ship canal to other companies as well. A total of 152 employees from several companies were hospitalized for ammonia vapor exposure, 31 were admitted and four were placed in the intensive care unit for several days. The company is being cited with seven serious safety and one serious health violation, totaling in $45,500 of proposed penalties. They also face an additional $7,000 dollar in fine for other safety issues found on the premises. Four of the safety violations, which are directly related to the incident are: failure to consider hazard analysis from previous incidents; ensure an emergency shutdown would be executed in a timely and safe manner; train workers in process safety management of highly hazardous chemicals; and investigate the contributing factors to an incident that could have resulted in a catastrophic event. Other safety violations include deficiencies with ladders, respiratory protection and emergency response. Atlantic Training offers a variety of safety training video, CD ROM, online courses and written material that could help any company comply with OSHAs safety standards. To learn how you can protect your employees and be in compliance of OSHAs regulations, please click here.
