Metal Shredders cited for willful, serious safety violations in electrocution death of welder in Miamisburg, Ohio. Parent company Cohen Brothers also cited for 3 serious electrical safety violations

April 16, 2015

Employer name: Cohen Brothers Inc., Middletown, Ohio; Metal Shredders Inc., Miamisburg, Ohio

Inspection site: Metal Shredders Inc., a subsidiary of Cohen Brothers, 5101 Farmersville-West Carrollton Road, Miamisburg, Ohio

Date investigation initiated and what prompted inspection: On Oct. 16, 2014, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Cincinnati Area Office initiated a fatality inspection after a 33-year-old maintenance worker was electrocuted. OSHA's investigation found Metal Shredders failed to protect the welder from an energized electrical line while he was cutting a metal roof off an industrial transformer substation at the facility.

Investigation findings: OSHA issued Metal Shredders one willful and 8 serious safety violations involving electrical safe work practices has proposed penalties of $115,000 to the company. 

OSHA has also issued Cohen Brothers, Metal Shredders' parent company three serious safety violations for failing to train employees in electrical safe work practices, with proposed penalties of $21,000.

Investigators found Metal Shredders failed to verify that electrical lines were absent of voltage after turning off the disconnect switch inside the transformer substation cabinet, resulting in a willful violation. The 10-year employee attempted to enter the substation by climbing over a concrete wall and fence on the side of the transformer substation and his foot touched the electrical line, which was still energized, and was electrocuted. 

"This was a tragic death that could have been prevented by following basic safety practices for working with high voltage transmission lines," said Ken Montgomery, OSHA Area Director in Cincinnati. "Employers who work with high voltage electricity must train workers in recognizing hazards and proper procedures to de-energize lines, and ensure the working environment is safe. No workers should lose their life on the job."

To view current citations see: 

http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/Cohen_Brothers_1001404_0414_15.pdf* http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/Metal_Shredders_1001470_0414_15.pdf* 

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 Cincinnati Area Office at 513-841-4132.

Follow up OSHA inspections identify new and recurring hazards for employees at New Hampshire sign manufacturer. MF Blouin faces $63,700 in penalties

April 20, 2015

Employer name: MFB Holdings LLC, doing business as M.F. Blouin, a manufacturer of acrylic and wooden sign holders and displays

Inspection site: 710 Main St. Rollinsford, New Hampshire 03869

Date inspections initiated: The Concord Area Office of the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration opened safety and health inspections on Dec. 1, 2014, to verify that M.F. Blouin had corrected violations cited during OSHA inspections in 2013. The earlier inspections resulted in citations for violations involving chemical safety, hazard communication, electrical equipment and emergency exit access. The company agreed to correct the cited hazards and paid $21,100 in fines.

Investigation findings: The follow up inspections found that plant employees were overexposed to the toxic chemical Methylene Chloride during wood laminating work and the plant lacked engineering controls to reduce those exposure levels below permissible exposure limits. The company also failed to determine if employees were exposed to methylene chloride, provide them with respirators, proper eye and face protection and with medical surveillance.

Exposure to methylene chloride can result in lightheadedness, mental confusion, nausea, vomiting and headaches and, with continued exposure, unconsciousness and even death. Methylene Chloride is a suspected human carcinogen. Other hazards included a too-narrow aisle leading to an emergency exit, mislabeled containers of hazardous chemicals and electrical outlets and equipment located within 20 feet of the spray area where volatile flammable liquids and gases are used. As a result of these conditions, OSHA cited MFB Holdings for six repeat and three serious violations of workplace health and safety standards.

Proposed Penalties: $63,700

Quote: "The recurrence of hazards similar to those we cited in 2013 show that this employer still needs to take additional steps to effectively address these hazards and protect the health and well-being of its employees. Information and assistance is available to help employers comply with health and safety requirements. These violations should not be happening again," said Rosemarie Ohar Cole, OSHA's New Hampshire area director. "We remind Granite State employers that we can and do conduct follow up inspections to verify that hazards have been eliminated. Never assume that OSHA will "go away" after a case is settled."

Next: MFB Holdings LLC, doing business as M.F. Blouin, has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to comply, meet informally 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 agency's Concord Area Office at 603-225-1629.

EDMUNDSTON AREA TRACK REOPENS AFTER CN TRAIN DERAILMENT. TSB DEPLOYS TEAM TO CN TRAIN DERAILMENT IN SAINT-BASILE NEAR EDMUNDSTON, NEW BRUNSWICK

DORVAL, QUEBEC

17 APRIL 2015

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) is deploying a team of investigators to a derailment involving a Canadian National (CN) train in Saint-Basile near Edmundston, New Brunswick. 

The TSB will gather information and assess the occurrence.

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EDMUNDSTON AREA TRACK REOPENS AFTER CN TRAIN DERAILMENT

There were no injuries when 35 cars and one locomotive went off the rails on Friday afternoon.

Canadian National Railway says tracks at the site of a derailment in New Brunswick have been repaired and the line has been re-opened.

In a statement issued Sunday, CN says crews continue to remove derailed cars from the area but traffic has resumed on the rail line near Edmundston, N.B.

The company says there were no injuries when 35 cars and one locomotive went off the rails on Friday afternoon.

Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board are assessing the derailment to determine what kind of investigation is needed.

Jacques Doiron, the Emergency Measures co-ordinator for Edmundston, said some of the derailed cars were empty crude oil tankers but there were no leaks and an evacuation was not needed.

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EDMUNDSTON, CANADA

APRIL 17, 2015

Emergency officials are on the scene of a train derailment near the northwestern New Brunswick city of Edmundston.

About 35 cars of a CN Rail freight train left the track Friday afternoon just south of the Edmundston between the Sainte-Basil area of the city and the village of Riviere-Verte.

The derailment happened near the Old Trans-Canada highway passing near Edmundston–now called Route 144.

The train was carrying wood, paper products, automobiles and some empty tanker cars when it left the tracks.

There are no injuries reported but it appears some the cars are completely off the rails, while others are only partially derailed.

A spokeswoman for the city of Edmundston said there doesn’t appear to be any spills or environmental danger.

Edmundston fire fighters and CN officials are on the scene along with the city’s Emergency Measures Organization and police.

There are no homes nearby the scene but officials are asking motorists to avoid the area.

CSB Releases New Safety Video Entitled Shock to the System Offering Key Lessons for Preventing Hydraulic Shock in Ammonia Refrigeration Systems

Latest Safety Video Includes Detailed Animation of 32,000- Pound Release of Ammonia in Alabama which Led to Offsite Injuries Including Multiple Hospitalizations in 2010

Washington, D.C

March 26, 2015


Today the US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) released its latest safety video detailing key lessons from the release of 32,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia that occurred at Millard Refrigerated Services Inc. on August 23, 2010. The accident resulted in over 150 exposures to offsite workers, thirty of which were hospitalized – four in an intensive care unit. 

The newly released seven-minute safety video, entitled “Shock to the System,” includes a detailed 3D animation of the events that led up the resulting ammonia release. The video is based on the CSB’s recent safety bulletin entitled “Key Lessons for Preventing Hydraulic Shock in Industrial Refrigeration Systems.”

Chairperson Rafael Moure-Eraso said, “The CSB’s new safety video is a valuable tool intended for use at the large number of facilities that utilize anhydrous ammonia. The key lessons learned from our investigation – examined in our report and in this video -- can help facilities prevent a similar accident from occurring due to hydraulic shock.”

The CSB’s video is available at its YouTube channel and at www.csb.gov
The CSB’s investigation found that the day prior to the accident the Millard facility experienced a loss of power that lasted more than seven hours. During that time the refrigeration system was shut down. The next day, on August 23, 2010, the system regained power and was up and running, though operators reported certain problems.  While doing some troubleshooting an operator cleared alarms in the control system, which reset the refrigeration cycle on a group of freezer evaporators that were in the process of defrosting.

This resulted in both hot, high-pressure gas and extremely low temperature liquid ammonia to be present in the coils and associated piping at the same time. This caused the hot high-pressure ammonia gas to rapidly condense into a liquid.  Because liquid ammonia takes up less volume than ammonia gas – a vacuum was created where the gas had condensed.

The sudden pressure drop sent a wave of liquid ammonia through the piping – causing a sudden pressure surge known as “hydraulic shock.”

This abnormal transient condition results in a sharp pressure rise with the potential to cause catastrophic failure of piping, valves, and other components. Often prior to a hydraulic shock incident there is an audible “hammering” in refrigeration piping.

CSB Investigator Tyler said, “The CSB’s animation details how the pressure surge ruptured the evaporator piping manifold inside one of the freezers causing a roof-mounted 12-inch suction pipe to catastrophically fail, resulting in the release of more than 32,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia and its associated 12-inch piping on the roof of the facility.”

The release resulted in injuries to a Millard employee when he fell while attempting to escape from a crane after it became engulfed in the traveling ammonia cloud.  The large cloud traveled a quarter mile from the facility south toward an area where 800 contractors were working outdoors at a clean-up site for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. A total of 152 offsite workers and ship crew members reported symptomatic illnesses from ammonia exposure. Thirty two of the offsite workers required hospitalization, four of them in an intensive care unit.

The video presents the key lessons learned from the CSB’s investigation including avoiding the manual interruption of evaporators in defrost and requiring control systems to be equipped with password protection to ensure only trained and authorized personnel have the authority to manually override systems. On the day of the incident, the control system did not recognize that the evaporator was already in the process of defrosting, and allowed an operator to manually restart the refrigeration cycle without removing the hot ammonia gas from the evaporator coil.

The CSB also found that the evaporators at the Millard facility were designed so that one set of valves controlled four separate evaporator coils. As a result, the contents of all four coils connected to that valve group were involved in the hydraulic shock event – leading to a larger, more hazardous pressure surge. As a result, the CSB notes that when designing ammonia refrigeration systems each evaporator coil should be controlled by a separate set of valves.

And the CSB found that immediately after discovering the ammonia release, a decision was made to isolate the source of the leak while the refrigeration system was still operating instead of initiating an emergency shutdown. 

Shutting down the refrigeration system may have resulted in a smaller release, since all other ammonia-containing equipment associated with the failed rooftop piping continued to operate. A final key lesson from the CSB’s investigation is that an emergency shutdown should be activated in the event of an ammonia release if a leak cannot be promptly isolated and controlled. Doing so can greatly reduce the amount of ammonia released during an accident.

The CSB is an independent federal agency charged with investigating serious chemical accidents. The agency's board members are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. CSB investigations look into all aspects of chemical accidents, including physical causes such as equipment failure as well as inadequacies in regulations, industry standards, and safety management systems.

The Board does not issue citations or fines but does make safety recommendations to plants, industry organizations, labor groups, and regulatory agencies such as OSHA and EPA. Visit our website, www.csb.gov.  For more information, contact public@csb.gov.

CSB Board Votes on Status of Sixteen Safety Recommendations; Agency Launches New Recommendations Website Feature

Washington, DC

April 20, 2015—

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has recently voted to update the status of sixteen recommendations resulting from twelve accident investigations including key safety improvements resulting from the 2006 CAI/Arnel fire and explosion in Danvers, MA and the 2005 BP Texas City refinery fire and explosion.  All recently voted on recommendations are highlighted on a newly launched webpage designed to update the public on safety recommendation status changes. 

 

Deputy Managing Director for Recommendations Dr. Susan Anenberg said, “Safety recommendations are the CSB’s primary tool for achieving positive change and preventing future incidents. A recommendation is a specific course of action issued to a specific party, based on the findings of CSB investigations, safety studies, and other products.”

 

One of the recommendations voted upon by the board was issued to Commonwealth of Massachusetts Office of Public Safety, Department of Fire Services. The recommendation was to incorporate standards set forth by the National Fire Protection Association into the state’s fire regulations and was the result of a powerful explosion and fire that took place at the CAI/Arnel ink and paint products manufacturing facility in Danvers, Massachusetts, on November 22, 2006. On January 1, 2015, the state of Massachusetts adopted a revised fire safety code that incorporates the CSB’s recommendations. 

 

Dr. Anenberg said, “We are very pleased that Massachusetts’ revised fire code includes our recommended safety improvements. Their action ensures that the Board’s accident investigation has a lasting impact on safety in the state.”

 

Another acceptably closed recommendation is a 2007 recommendation to OSHA to implement a national emphasis program for oil refineries focusing on issues the CSB found contributed to the March 23, 2005, explosion at the BP refinery in Texas City, Texas. In response to the CSB recommendation, OSHA launched a “Petroleum Refinery Process Safety Management National Emphasis Program,” which led to enhanced inspections of over seventy refineries nationwide. 

 

Also, the CSB successfully closed a recommendation made to the National Fire Protection Association to revise standards based on findings from its investigation into the May 4, 2009, explosion and fire at the Veolia facility in West Carrolton, Ohio.

 

Dr. Anenberg said, “Actions taken by CSB recommendations recipients trigger important safety changes that can prevent accidents and save lives. Our goal is for all CSB safety recommendations to be successfully adopted and we look forward to sharing our progress with the public through our new website feature." 

 

For a full list of recently updated recommendations please view the CSB’s website at http://www.csb.gov/recommendations/recently-updated/

 

The CSB is an independent federal agency charged with investigating industrial chemical accidents. The agency's board members are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. CSB investigations look into all aspects of chemical accidents, including physical causes such as equipment failure as well as inadequacies in regulations, industry standards, and safety management systems.

 

The Board does not issue citations or fines but does make safety recommendations to plants, industry organizations, labor groups, and regulatory agencies such as OSHA and EPA. Visit our website, www.csb.gov.

 

For more information, contact CSB Public Affairs at public@csb.gov, Communications Manager Hillary Cohen, cell 202-446-8094 or Sandy Gilmour, Public Affairs, cell 202-251-5496.