Facility Safety

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An occupational safety organization says last week’s deadly fertilizer plant explosion in Texas is the result of that state’s anti-regulatory environment. The explosion at the West Fertilizer Company killed 14 people and injured many more.

The results of a landmark study on high-rise fires and the best ways to battle them were released at the 2013 Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Conference in Phoenix, Ariz. last week, prompting many fire departments throughout the United States to re-examine the ways they deal with fires in tall buildings.

There have been countless articles and guides that outline all the key components to a successful lockout/tagout program. However, it goes beyond just purchasing padlocks, tags, and lockout devices. Even with a solid written plan, the ultimate success depends on your employees properly applying the lockout hardware according to your established procedures.

The West Fertilizer plant that was the site of last week’s devastating explosion and loss of life had at least 50,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia onsite -- yet the site’s operators told the EPA and public safety officials that it posed no risk of fire or explosion, according to the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH).

The West Fertilizer Company facility that exploded in a deadly blast last week had not been inspected by OSHA in at least 10 years, according to advocacy group Public Citizen, which says too many similar facilities operate “with very little oversight” from regulatory agencies.

OSHA has cited food giant Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. with eight safety violations following the death of a worker who became caught in an unguarded hopper while attempting to remove a piece of cardboard at the company's facility in Canton, Ga.

An explosion at a fertilizer plant in Texas last night powerful enough to cause a magnitude 2.1 earthquake has killed up to 15 people – and possibly more. Waco, Texas police Sgt. William Patrick Swanton said he expects the casualty rate to rise. A number of firefighters are among those still missing after the blast. (Firefighters – including volunteers – were at the plant fighting the blaze when the explosion occurred.)

Missed opportunities to apply inherently safer design, failure to identify and evaluate damage mechanism hazards, and the lack of effective safeguards culminated in the vapor cloud release and massive fire that occurred at the Chevron refinery on August 6, 2012,a draft report by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has found.

Rox Coal Inc., which operates the Geronimo Mine in Somerset County, Pa., has been found in violation of a mandatory electrical hazard safety standard by an administrative law judge with the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission. The ALJ deemed the violation “quintessentially flagrant” and ordered the company to pay a $110,000 civil penalty.

OSHA has cited Nuway Tobacco Co. for 22 alleged serious violations of workplace safety and health standards at its South Windsor manufacturing facility. The tobacco sheet manufacturer faces $59,869 in proposed fines following an inspection by the agency’s Hartford Area office.