MEC&F Expert Engineers : 07/28/16

Thursday, July 28, 2016

TWO OLD MEN KILLED IN ATV ROLLOVER CRASHES; THEY WERE NOT WEARING HELMETS



PAGE COUNTY, VIRGINIA


NEW: Police Identify Man Killed In ATV Crash

Pete DeLea
Updated 7 hrs ago

Police identified a Page County man who died Wednesday night in an all-terrain vehicle crash near Stanley.

Sgt. Les Tyler with the Virginia State Police said Thursday that emergency crews responded to the 800 block of Battlecreek Road about 8 p.m.

He said Page Lynwood Turner, 80, was traveling northbound on a 2003 Honda ATV when he ran off the road, went down an embankment and overturned.

Turner died at the scene.

Tyler said he was not wearing a helmet.



================




PAGE COUNTY, Va. (WHSV) -- UPDATE (1:00 p.m. 7/28/2016):


Following last night's fatal ATV accident, the Virginia State Police have released the identity of the victim and details of what happened.


Page Lynwood Turner, an 80-year-old man from Page County, was reportedly driving a 2003 Honda ATV on route 615 at 8:03 p.m. Wednesday night when the vehicle ran off the shoulder and went down an embankment. At the bottom of the embankment, the ATV overturned.

Virginia State Police trooper M.R. Leeds say that Turner was not wearing a helmet and died on scene from injuries sustained in the rollover.

WHSV would like to remind our viewers of the importance of safety precautions while riding ATV's. In the 'Related Stories' section of this article is a link to a recent story on ATV safety.


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Trout Creek man dies in ATV crash in Mineral County

KIM BRIGGEMAN kbriggeman@missoulian.com
Updated 2 hrs ago

SANDERS COUNTY, MONTANA

A 74-year-old man from Sanders County died in a Missoula hospital Thursday morning after crashing his all-terrain vehicle Wednesday near Taft.


Mineral County Sheriff and coroner Tom Bauer identified the victim as Glenn E. Smith of Trout Creek.


Trooper Steve Gaston of the Montana Highway Patrol said Smith was riding with two Noxon men and his son, also from Trout Creek, when he hit a rock on a Forest Service road a couple of miles north of Interstate 90.


“He went up an embankment, fell off the ATV, rolled down across the road and hit his head on a rock,” Gaston said.


The man was not wearing a helmet, and speed and alcohol may have been factors in the crash, which happened shortly before 5 p.m.



The West End Volunteer Fire Department and Quick Response Unit responded. Gaston said the victim was initially “a bit combative” with medics.


He was transported by ambulance to Mineral Community Hospital in Superior, then airlifted to St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, where he passed away from apparent head trauma.


The man became the 101st victim on Montana public roads this year.


It was the second fatality in Mineral County in less than a week. On July 22, Julie Ilene Martinez, 54, of Victor, was killed and three young children were hospitalized after a one-car rollover on I-90 between St. Regis and Superior.

Freight train derailment report: Speed, mishandling blamed for crash near Colebrook



 

Photo: TasRail said new concrete sleepers were installed before the crash. (ABC News: Andy Wallace)
Map: Colebrook 7027

A freight train ran off the tracks north of Hobart in 2014 because of driver errors, a new report has found.


Key points:
ATSB finds driver over-compensated on slope into Colebrook
The freight train was travelling twice the prescribed track speed when it derailed
Report warns drivers to be vigilant on undulating ground

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has released its findings into the crash near Colebrook in November 2014, blaming excessive speed and handling errors.

TasRail said the findings vindicated its own investigations and report.

Two locomotives and nine wagons overturned in the derailment, ripping up the track and delaying freight for two days.

The ATSB report found the driver over-compensated on the steep slope into Colebrook after realising the train was going too slow for the track.

When it derailed at the next bend, it was travelling at almost double the prescribed track limit, at 65 kilometres an hour.

The driver had been driving the train overnight and suffered minor injuries in the crash.

It occurred at the site of previous accidents and shortly after new concrete sleepers were installed to prevent more accidents.

In a statement after the findings were handed down, TasRail's Damien White welcomed the report.

"The ATSB findings are consistent with TasRail's own investigation into the incident, which confirmed the derailment that occurred at Colebrook was caused by a train handling error and excessive speed," he said.

"I am satisfied that TasRail's response to the derailment was timely, thorough, and appropriate."

The report found TasRail's driver training and fatigue management safeguards were adequate, and noted it had taken further steps since the accident to prevent a similar one occurring, including an advanced train control system.

The ATSB report said the incident highlighted the need for drivers to be especially vigilant in monitoring trains on undulating ground.

Mr White said the operator had installed new technology.

"The system automatically sends an alarm to alert the train driver where there is a risk that train speed is likely to exceed, or is at limits," he said.

Queensland authorities say they have identified the vessel that spilled up to 15 tonnes of oil off Cape Upstart in July 2015


 

The Queensland government has vowed to ‘relentlessly pursue anyone wilfully or negligently polluting our coastal waters, especially the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park’. The ship that spilled oil in July 2015 faces up to $17m in fines. Photograph: Fairfax Media via Getty Images



Joshua Robertson
   Last modified on Wednesday 27 July 2016 22.39 EDT



An unnamed foreign ship faces prosecution over an oil spill on the Great Barrier Reef after a 12-month investigation by Queensland government agencies.

Maritime investigators claim they have identified the vessel that spilled up to 15 tonnes of oil in reef waters off Cape Upstart in July 2015, which washed up on mainland beaches and islands north of Townsville and triggered a response costing $1.5m.

It follows an investigation that the ports minister, Mark Bailey, described as painstaking, and involved identifying the offending ship from 17 vessels in the area 72 hours prior to the spill.

Authorities were first alerted by a fisherman who reported seeing a slick close to 1km long, which had dissipated by the time aerial searches were under way.




The Great Barrier Reef: a catastrophe laid bare

“The challenge was then to track down the individual ships, many of which were on international voyages, check onboard records, interview crews and take oil samples for elimination testing against samples from the spill,” Bailey said.

“It was a difficult investigation as the ship believed to be responsible is foreign registered with a crew of foreign nationals.

“This is an extremely complex legal process involving both Australian and international maritime law and we don’t want to jeopardise the case by identifying the suspect vessel while the evidence is being fully considered.”

The commonwealth director of public prosecutions will now consider whether to charge the overseas-registered, foreign-crewed ship, whose operator could face state and federal fines of up to $17m.

Steven Miles, the minister for the environment and the Great Barrier Reef, said it took a multi-agency taskforce two weeks to remove the oil from island and mainland beaches between Palm Island and Hinchinbrook Island.
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Two seabirds were killed from oil exposure but a juvenile flatback turtle was saved and released back into the ocean after six weeks.

“Luckily, there was only a small number of animals affected by the spill,” Miles said.

Bailey said the Palaszczuk government had vowed to “relentlessly pursue anyone wilfully or negligently polluting our coastal waters, especially the Great Barrier Reef marine park area and this investigation demonstrates our resolve”.

“We will ensure Queenslanders are not out of pocket for this incident and will seek full cost recovery through the Australian Maritime Safety Authority either out of the offending ship’s insurance or from a national plan fund set aside for these occurrences,” he said.

840 gallons of oil leak from Texas Petroleum Management pipe at Southwest Pass near Mississippi River's mouth




The U.S. Coast Guard responds to an oil leak Thursday, July 28, near Southwest Pass. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard)

 By Littice Bacon-Blood, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
 
on July 28, 2016 at 4:23 PM, updated July 28, 2016 at 5:41 PM




An estimated 840 gallons of oil leaked from a flow line into the marsh at Southwest Pass, the Coast Guard said Thursday (July 28). The pipeline, owned by Texas Petroleum Management, has been secured and a containment boom put in place, the agency said.

Southwest Pass is a ship channel that juts off in a southwesterly direction from the main channel of the Mississippi River where the river empties into the Gulf of Mexico. The cause of the discharge was under investigation.

Four children have died from vehicular heatstroke this past weekend, raising the 2016 total to 23




 
Four children have died from vehicular heatstroke this past weekend, raising the 2016 total to 23. (Shutterstock) 


Thursday, July 28, 2016 05:53AM 



Over the weekend, four children died while being left in hot cars, raising the total number of children who died from vehicular heatstroke in 2016 to 23, according to KidsAndCars.org.

On July 22, a 4-year-old in Williamsport, Pa., and a 3-year-old in Navarre, Fla. died. On July 23, a 2-year-old boy in Rocky Comfort, Mo., and on July 24, a 3-year-old in Dallas, Tex., also died.

According to KidsAndCars.org, since 2010, 241 children have died from vehicular heatstroke. Since 1998, an average of 37 children die each year.

On a sunny day, the temperature inside a car can rise 40 degrees within an hour, according to a Stanford University study. When it's 90 degrees outside, the temperature inside a car can soar to over 160 degrees, according to AccuWeather.

KidsAndCars.org recommends setting up reminders to prevent leaving children in hot cars. One idea is to buckle a stuffed animal in a child's car seat when parked, placing it in the front passenger seat while driving.

Propane tanks exploded at Pinnacle Propane Company in Gurnee, triggering an extra-alarm fire







Propane tanks exploded at
Pinnacle Propane Company in Gurnee, triggering an extra-alarm fire in the far northern suburb Thursday afternoon. (WLS)

By John Garcia
Updated 2 hrs 33 mins ago
GURNEE, Ill. (WLS) -- Propane tanks exploded at an industrial park in Gurnee, triggering an extra-alarm fire in the far northern suburb Thursday afternoon.

Witnesses said they began hearing the explosions shortly after 12 p.m. at Pinnacle Propane Company in the 3800-block of Clearview Court, which fills the small tanks used with many barbecue grills.



The fire department arrived to find thick smoke and flames shot from the building, with explosions going off every few seconds.

Firefighters from more than 30 departments were called in to help with manpower in the hot, humid weather. They also used a helicopter and video from a police department drone to determine the best way to fight the fire.

"We have crews that are in there, that are breaking up these piles of cylinders that ruptured and didn't rupture. We need to get in there and move them apart and then continue to wet the area down to continue to no active fire right now," Gurnee Fire Chief Fred Friedl said.

Pinnacle uses two large tanks to fill the smaller tanks, but those large tanks were still intact and not impacted by the fire, authorities said.

The police department evacuated homes and businesses within a mile to mile-and-a-half radius. They have since been allowed to return.

Everyone working inside the building has been accounted for and no injuries were reported, officials said. Streets were reopened and the fire was under control by 3 p.m.

Officials are still investigating how the fire began.

Oscar Renda Contracting, a Houston contractor, found violating serious trench hazards for sixth time in 10 years; faces $124K in OSHA penalties


July 28, 2016
Oscar Renda Contracting, a Houston contractor, found violating serious trench hazards for sixth time in 10 years; faces $124K in OSHA penalties
Oscar Renda Contracting ignores fatal risks in unprotected excavations

Employer name: Oscar Renda Contracting Inc.

Inspection Site: Subdivision on Shepherd Street, Houston, Texas
Citations issued: July 28, 2016

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigator witnessed workers performing trench and excavation work unsafely at a subdivision in Houston and initiated an inspection on Feb 11, 2016. As a result, the agency has cited Oscar Renda Contracting Inc. for allowing employees to work unprotected in excavations and permit required confined spaces. Without using a trench box or proper benching or sloping techniques, trench walls may collapse - crushing and burying workers. A cubic yard of soil can weigh almost 3,000 pounds, the weight of a small automobile, which makes escape difficult or impossible for workers. Each year, dozens of workers die in trench collapses and hundreds more are injured often seriously.

OSHA issued citations for one willful, 11 serious and two other violations. The willful violation was cited for exposing workers to cave-ins. The agency has investigated Oscar Renda Contracting six times in the past 10 years and cited the company each time for similar violations.

This inspection falls under the agency's National Emphasis Program on Trenching and Excavations.

Inspectors identified the following serious violations as the company:
  • Allowed unnecessary material and unsupported equipment within 2 feet of the excavation's edge.
  • Failed to train employees in the safe performance of their duties.
  • Did not verify that permit-required spaces were safe for entry.
  • Failed to provide rescue and emergency equipment.
  • Did not ensure that the required supervisor checked all appropriate entries on the permit before allowing employees to enter.
Proposed Penalties: $124,300
Quote: "Six times in 10 years, we have found Oscar Renda Contracting risking the lives of its employees in underground trenches. Imagine the fear of working below ground when thousands of pounds of soil begin to fall on you and the likelihood that you will be buried alive because your employer valued a contract more than your life," said Mark Briggs, OSHA's area director in the Houston South office. "OSHA remains firm in its commitment to hold employers accountable for their actions when fundamental common sense and humanity are not enough to make them change."

Link to the citations: http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/OscarRendaContracting_1124976.pdf

Information: Headquartered in Roanoke, Texas, Oscar Renda Contracting is a national pipeline, well and wastewater construction company. The company also operates Renda Environmental and Renda Pacific. The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director, or contest the citations and penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

To ask questions; obtain compliance assistance; file a complaint or report amputations, eye loss, workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency's Houston South Area Office at 281-286-0583.
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MISSION STATEMENT

"To maintain continued success and achieve prominence as the leading infrastructure contractor nationally, we must first and foremost have safety as the top priority, providing both the employees and the public a safe and healthy working environment; we must maintain quality workmanship through Honesty, Integrity and Professionalism; we must maintain with deepest regard that the Employees and our Customers are the prominent forces to our continued success and therefore, we continue the Mission."


Established in 1974, Oscar Renda Contracting Inc. has been constructing large-diameter pipelines, as well as water and wastewater treatment facilities throughout the United States for over 40 years. Oscar Renda Contracting has the capability to employ a variety of construction techniques – including deep open-cut pipeline installation,  large-diameter, earth-tunnel bore machines, and slip-line pipeline repair.
 
Additional services are available through Renda Environmental and Renda Pacific, sister companies of Oscar Renda Contracting.  Renda Environmental is a full-service residual management company, and is one of the largest privately-owned companies of its kind in the United States. 
 
All three companies take pride in delivering quality products performed on budget and on time. For more information about Oscar Renda Contracting, Renda Environmental, or Renda Pacific please feel free to Contact Us.

Oscar Renda Corporate Headquarters:  608 Henrietta Creek Road | Roanoke, TX 76262

Salmonella possibly traced to Chapel Hill Creamery in NC; cheeses recalled










(Shutterstock)

Updated 2 hrs 13 mins ago
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WTVD) -- Chapel Hill Creamery in Chapel Hill has announced a voluntary recall of all cheese products due to a possible connection with a recent Salmonella outbreak.

Health officials said recent cases of Salmonella were identified in people who had consumed Chapel Hill Creamery products.

Orange County has provided a hot line for any questions - (919) 245-2378.

The company said the products involved in the voluntary recall include all codes, packages, and sizes of the following varieties of cheese manufactured by Chapel Hill Creamery and distributed through retail locations, Farmer's Markets, or restaurants throughout North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia:

  • Quark
  • Danziger
  • Swiss
  • Paneer
  • Calvander
  • Hot Farmers Cheese
  • Dairyland Farmers Cheese
  • Smoked Mozzarella
  • Fresh Mozzarella
  • Burrata
  • Hickory Grove
  • Carolina Moon
  • Smoked Farmers Cheese
  • New Moon

Pheta
"Although there is not yet a definitive link between the CHC cheese and the illnesses, there is enough evidence to implicate the cheese and we are asking customers to not consume these cheeses or use them in food service," said Portia McKnight, co-founder of the Creamery.

The Creamery is working with other agencies to determine the source of the Salmonella and which cheeses are affected.

The Creamery will provide updated information on its web site as it becomes available.

Those infected with Salmonella experience fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. People who are concerned they might have Salmonella infections should contact their doctor to discuss testing and treatment. The illness typically lasts four to seven days, and most persons recover without treatment. However, in some persons, the diarrhea may be so severe that the patient needs to be hospitalized.

OSHA finds Arlington Plating Co., a Chicago-area electroplating company, continues to expose workers to dangerous machine hazards, allow other safety hazards




July 28, 2016

OSHA finds
Arlington Plating Co., a Chicago-area electroplating company, continues to expose workers to dangerous machine hazards, allow other safety hazards
Arlington Plating Co. faces $115K in penalties for 5 repeated, 16 serious safety violations

PALATINE, Ill. - Federal safety inspectors found a suburban Chicago electroplating company continues to put its employees in danger of serious injuries by failing to install adequate machine safety guards, train workers in machine safety procedures and correct electrical deficiencies in the plant â¿¿ all violations for which inspectors cited the Arlington Plating Company in 2013.

On July 27, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued the company five repeated and 16 serious safety violations after a February 2016 follow-up inspection. Arlington Plating now faces $115,930 in fines. The company provides electroplating services to the automotive, motorcycle, electronic, consumer and gaming industries.

"Most consumers never think about the dangers faced by the Arlington workers who may have plated their cars' rims, trucks' step rails, motorcycles' pipes or the parts of their personal electronics," said Angeline Loftus, area director of OSHA's Chicago North Area Office in Des Plaines. "Every year, manufacturing workers suffer amputations, serious injuries and worse because companies like this one ignore common sense safety standards. Arlington Plating must change its dismissive attitude and do what's right. Implement safety and health programs and provide workers with equipment that protect them from needless and avoidable job-related injuries and illnesses."

OSHA's inspection found the employer failed to:
  • Require workers to wear personal protective equipment, including goggles and face protection.
  • Follow respiratory protection standards, such as individual fit-testing and medical evaluations.
  • Install adequate machine safety guards.
  • Follow electrical safe work practices including using electrical equipment rated for wet and corrosive environments and remove damaged equipment from use.
  • Train workers on machine safety procedures, known as "lockout/tag out."
  • Inspect lifting devices and remove damaged devices from service.

View the current citations here.

Founded in 1946, Arlington Plating Company is a private owned company with more than 100 people in the Chicago suburbs. It provides electroplating, and buffing and polishing services to numerous industries. The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint, or report workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the Chicago North Area Office at (847)-803-4800.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

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W&L Group Construction Inc., Top Master Industries Inc. fined combined $117K because they expose employees to fall, fire and electrical hazards at Chinatown construction site



U.S. Department of Labor | July 28, 2016

Two Queens contractors expose employees to fall, fire and electrical
hazards at Chinatown construction site, OSHA finds
W&L Group Construction Inc., Top Master Industries Inc. fined combined $117K

NEW YORK - Federal workplace safety and health inspectors have cited two Queens construction companies a total of $117,170 for exposing workers to fall, fire and electrical hazards while rehabilitating three adjoining buildings at 223 Grand St. in Manhattan's Chinatown.

The Manhattan Area Office of the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration conducted the inspections as part of its local emphasis program targeting construction sites. The agency inspected building contractor W&L Group Construction Inc. and steel erection contractor Top Master Industries Inc./H&J Iron Works Inc. OSHA found that both contractors failed to:
  • Provide fall protection for employees working on a scaffold.
  • Ensure fall protection training for employees.
  • Prevent employees from climbing cross-braces to access the scaffold's work platform.
  • Cover a floor hole that exposed employees to falls of up to 17 feet.
  • Ensure planks on a scaffold platform were secured, which exposed employees to a fall hazard of more than 7 feet.
  • Separate stored oxygen cylinders from fuel-gas cylinders or combustible materials.
  • Secure compressed gas cylinders in an upright position.
  • Ensure a fire extinguisher was near compressed gas cylinders and combustible materials.
  • Use cabinets or other forms of enclosures to guard employees from accidental contact with live parts of electric equipment.

These conditions led OSHA to cite W&L Group Construction Inc. for eight repeated and six serious violations of workplace safety standards with $93,170 in proposed fines. The agency also cited Top Master for 10 serious violations with $24,000 in proposed fines. OSHA found repeated violations by W&L Group that the agency cited for similar fall-related, electrical and compressed gas cylinder hazards in inspections in 2012 and 2014.

"The hazards we found at the Grand Street site are of concern since they involve two of the four leading causes of death in construction work - falls and electric shock. These employers are not meeting their responsibility to provide their employees with safe working conditions. Especially disturbing is the fact that W&L Group Construction has been cited for similar hazards over the last four years," said Kay Gee, OSHA's area director for Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn.

The citations can be viewed here, and here.

W&L Group Construction Inc. has 15 business days from receipt of the citations and proposed penalties to comply, meet with OSHA's area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Top Masters Industries Inc./H&J Iron Works has met with OSHA and has reached a settlement and confirmed the hazards are corrected.

To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint or report workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency's Manhattan Area Office at 212-620-3200.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

# # #

The death toll rises to three after the explosion at Verkhnechonskoe oilfield





July 28, 9:19 UTC+3
Two more people are in an extremely critical condition and one individual is in grave condition, regional healthcare ministry said



NOVOSIBIRSK, July 27. /TASS/. The death toll rises to three after the explosion at Verkhnechonskoe oilfield [operated by Rosneft’s affiliate Verkhnechonskneftegaz - TASS] in Irkutsk Region. One more injured person died in the hospital, regional healthcare ministry told TASS on Thursday.

"We have information about the third fatality; the individual died in the hospital," the source told TASS. Two more people are in an extremely critical condition and one individual is in grave condition, he added.

 
The oilfield operator Verkhnechonskneftegaz will take under wing families of individuals died in and after the accident, press service of the company told TASS.

"The company will take care of each family of died workers. An individual list of benefits and guarantees will be given to each family left without the wage-earner. The company will provide social support to families of victims and injured individuals in addition to required material support," the company’s representative said.

"The company is undertaking all the measures to provide workers injured in the accident at the Verkhnechonskoe field with competent medical aid. They were delivered by a special flight from Kirensk town to a hospital in Irkutsk," the representative added.

Backfire occurred in power plant’s fuel gas receiver during the startup performed by the contractor on the field, press service of Verkhnechonskneftegaz told TASS earlier today. A commission was setup to identify causes of the accident. Oil production on the field remains on track.

Verkhnechonskneftegaz is exploring and developing Verkhnechonskoe oil and gas condensate field, one of the largest fields in East Siberia.


====================




KRASNOYARSK, July 27. /TASS/. The death toll rose to two after the explosion at Verkhnechonskoe oilfield [operated by Rosneft’s affiliate Verkhnechonskneftegaz - TASS] in Irkutsk Region. One injured person died en route to Kirensk town, representative of the regional healthcare ministry told TASS on Wednesday.

"Five injured individuals were delivered to Kirensk. The sixth one died," the representative said. One person delivered to the regional hospital is in a grave condition and the other ones are in an extremely critical condition, he said. Injured persons are examined by physicians and will be sent to Irkutsk if necessary, the representative added.

Backfire occurred in power plant’s fuel gas receiver during the startup performed by the contractor on the field, press service of Verkhnechonskneftegaz told TASS earlier today. A commission was setup to identify causes of the accident.

Verkhnechonskneftegaz is exploring and developing Verkhnechonskoe oil and gas condensate field, one of the largest fields in East Siberia.



Preparedness is Prevention: How A Process Safety Management Could Prevent Problems and Disasters Associated with your Process



Preparedness is Prevention: Four Ways Process Safety Management Could Have Prevented This Fire

by Jennifer Busick



Is an ounce of prevention really more effective than a pound of cure? According to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), that’s certainly the case for Arboris®, LLC, a food additive manufacturing facility in Newark, Ohio. A 900-gallon melt tank at the facility containing hexane and ethanol overpressurized and exploded in December 2015. The resulting fireball injured four workers, including two contractors.

An OSHA investigation of the incident resulted in allegations that the employer’s process safety management (PSM) program was woefully incomplete. Arboris had completed some aspects of PSM required by OSHA, but its program had significant gaps—and in those gaps were the makings of disaster. Take a close look at your own PSM program, and make sure you haven’t missed any of these preventive measures.

Complete Your Process Safety Information

Arboris was cited for multiple violations of 29 CFR 1910.119(d), which requires employers to develop complete process safety information for use in the development of safety practices and procedures. Arboris allegedly did not have complete information for its process with respect to:
  • The maximum intended inventory. There was no record of how much inventory the system could handle.
  • Safe upper and lower limits for temperature, pressures, flows and compositions. Without a maximum intended inventory, there was no way to adequately determine this information.
  • An evaluation of the consequences of deviations from safe limits in the process. If you haven’t determined what the limits are, it’s impossible to determine what deviations might do.
  • Accurate piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&ID). According to the existing P&ID, the relief piping on the tank that exploded vented to the ground, when, in fact, it did not.
  • Its relief system design and design basis. There should be some evaluation of how the relief system is supposed to work.
  • Design codes and standards employed. What information was used in developing the system design? The information the employer had in this case did not match the system as designed.
  • Safety systems. There was no information in the employer’s process safety documentation about foam suppression systems, flame arrestors, interlocks, level indicators, or lower explosive limit (LEL) meters.
  • Recognized and generally accepted good engineering practices (RAGAGEP). OSHA alleges that Arboris failed to document that nine different components of the process were installed in accordance with good engineering practices.
Without complete process information, Arboris lacked what it needed to ensure that the process was properly designed and operating within safe limits.
Action item: Is your process safety information complete and current?

Complete Your Process Hazard Analysis

Arboris was also cited for multiple violations of 29 CFR 1910.119(e) requiring employers to perform a process hazard analysis (PHA), which must be periodically updated. Arboris had performed a PHA, but it was incomplete. The PHA allegedly failed to:
  • Identify all potential worst-case scenarios that could lead to an overpressurization of its process.
  • Identify the potential for the hexane solvent wash to rapidly boil under upset conditions.
  • Identify the potential hazards of material build-up in the relief pipe.
Arboris also allegedly failed to analyze and characterize the hazards created by facility siting in both its initial PHA and follow-up PHAs. Neither PHA addressed facility siting at all. A complete PHA of facility siting should examine the hazards of location, unit layout, storage/warehouses, spacing between process components, control rooms, occupied buildings, unit location relative to surroundings, emergency stations, contingency planning, electrical classification, ventilation, location of emergency relief venting, and evacuation routes through perimeter fencing surrounding the covered process.

Of course, when your PHA is finished, you must arrange to address any items of concern that have been identified. Arboris allegedly also failed to do this; it had no system to promptly address its PHA findings and recommendations, assure that they would be addressed in a timely manner, and document those actions.
Action items: Does your PHA cover all possible worst-case scenarios and dangerous chemical reactions, as well as the hazards inherent in your location and layout? Have you addressed your findings? Have you communicated the findings and your corrective measures to process operators?

Develop Safe Operating Procedures

This is the point where the rubber met the road at the Arboris plant. There does seem to have been a written set of operating procedures in place, but workers were not following it when they added hexane wash to the melt tank—the event that led directly to the explosion.

The workers may not have been following the procedures because the procedures themselves were incomplete, failing to cover all possible situations in violation of 29 CFR 1910.119(f). Specifically, the written procedures did not cover:
  • Temporary operations.
  • Startup following a turnaround or emergency shutdown.
  • Consequences of deviation. In this case, OSHA noted that the procedures did not cover the consequences of adding hexane to the process before it reached the optimal temperature.
  • Steps required to correct or avoid deviation.
  • Safety systems and their function.
  • Special situations, such as lockout/tagout, confined space entry, pipe breaking/line breaking operations, and the presence of workers not directly involved in the operation in the work area.
  • Annual review of the operating procedures.
Action items: Do your operating procedures cover all operating conditions, not just “normal production”? Do they give operators the information they will need to correct problems that might arise before they lead to disaster?

Manage Any Changes

Any time you make changes to a covered process other than to replace existing parts or ingredients with essentially similar ones, you must examine the changes from all angles in order to make sure that the process will remain safe. On the day of the fire, Arboris workers used a different chemical in their process—isohexane, rather than the designed n-hexane—but it appears that no one stopped to ask whether the change was safe. 

Action item: Ensure that you have written management-of-change procedures, and that operators understand that any changes to the process must be managed using those procedures. 

Tomorrow, we’ll look at six more gaps that OSHA identified in Arboris’ PSM program that could have helped to prevent the fire.

Preparedness is Prevention: how a process safety management (PSM) program can identify and correct potentially disastrous issues with the process


Preparedness is Prevention: Six More Ways Process Safety Management Could Have Prevented This Fire

by Jennifer Busick



At the Arboris® plant in Newark, Ohio, workers were adding hexane to a process that produced sterols—a natural compound produced by pine trees—for use in foods such as spreads, bread, milk, and yogurt. Unfortunately, the employer’s process safety management (PSM) program failed at many points to identify and correct potentially disastrous issues with the process. As a result, a tank at the facility overpressurized and exploded, injuring four workers.

Yesterday, we looked at four areas where Arboris could have identified and corrected problems with the process before a disaster occurred. Today, we’ll look at six more. Examine your own PSM program for completeness in these areas.

Plan for Contractors

Two contractors were among those injured in the Arboris fire. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) alleges that Arboris had failed to develop safe work practices addressing contractors in violation of 29 CFR 1910.119(h). Arboris allegedly failed to what Contractor safe work practices must cover
  • The entrance, presence, and exit of contract employees in covered process areas.
  • The collection and evaluation of safety program and performance information on prospective contractors—for example, the collection and evaluation of the contractor’s OSHA 300 logs and safety programs. 
 
Action items: Make sure that you have a plan in place for controlling the movement of contractors in covered process areas. For contractors who will be working on or near covered processes, have a procedure in place for checking their safety record before they come on-site.

Use Your Pre-Start-Up Safety Review

Employers must perform a pre-start-up safety review for new and modified facilities that confirms, before highly hazardous chemicals are added to a process, that everything is in place that is needed to ensure the safety of the process. Arboris allegedly failed to perform a pre-start-up safety review, in violation of 29 CFR 1910.119(i), by failing to ensure that safety, operating, maintenance and emergency procedures were in place.

This was a “bonus” citation of sorts, for OSHA: In failing to have these procedures in place as required at other points in its PSM program, Arboris also failed to have them available for its pre-start-up safety review. 

Action item: Your pre-start-up safety review is your last chance to catch any potentially hazardous errors and omissions. Make sure that workers have a checklist to work through that will enable them to identify any problems. 

Protect Your Mechanical Integrity

The mechanical integrity of any covered process is every bit as vital as the behavior of the chemicals in the system. OSHA alleges that Arboris failed to develop operational procedures to maintain the ongoing integrity of equipment, in violation of 29 CFR 1910.119(j). Specifically, Arboris allegedly did not:
  • Develop written procedures covering the inspection, testing, and maintenance of relief system components, piping system and valves, and process vessels in its covered process.
  • Update its computerized maintenance management system software for the covered process to the software system in use for the rest of the plant.
  • Establish quality assurance procedures to insure that equipment, maintenance materials, spare parts, and newly fabricated equipment were suitable for the process applications in which they would be used.

  • Ensure that appropriate checks and inspections were performed to ensure that equipment was installed properly and consistent with design specifications and manufacturer’s instructions.
  • Ensure that inspections and tests were being performed on pressure-relieving devices in the covered process.
  • Ensure that any identified equipment deficiencies are corrected in a timely fashion and before further use of the equipment.
Action items: Make sure that your mechanical integrity procedures are as complete and thorough as your PHA and safe operating procedures. If you’ve upgraded your management systems, make sure that the upgrade extends to your covered processes as appropriate. Check your inspection records to ensure that inspections are actually being performed and that any identified issues are being addressed.

Investigate Any Incidents

The PSM standard requires employers to fully investigate any incidents that occur in a covered process. The investigation reports should include the names of the members of the investigation team, the date the investigation began, a detailed description of the incident, a list of contributing factors, any recommendations arising out of the investigation, and documentation of how those recommendations were addressed. 

Arboris had incident investigation reports for twenty different incidents involving its covered process—but, according to OSHA, all of those incident reports were missing one or more required elements, a violation of 29 CFR 1910.119(m).  Among Arboris’ alleged failings were a failure to include on its incident investigation team at least one representative of a contractor who was working on the process at the time of the incident, and failure to document the date that the inspection began.

Action item: Are your incident investigation reports complete—including documentation of how recommendations were addressed? If not, can you complete them?

Plan for Emergencies

The PSM standard stresses planning and preparation but recognizes that even with all that advance planning, pre-start-up review, and management of change, things can still go wrong. That’s why you also have to have a plan in place for handling emergencies under 29 CFR 1910.119(n), which references 29 CFR 1910.38, Emergency Action Plans, and portions of 29 CFR 1910.120, the Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) standard. Arboris allegedly violated this standard by failing to create procedures to be followed by workers who remain to operate critical plant equipment before evacuating. 

Action item: If you are covered by the PSM standard, you are also covered by the Emergency Action Plans standard and may be covered by HAZWOPER. Make sure that you have done what you need to in order to comply with all three standards.