IFCA recently received a report from a member in northern Illinois regarding a roadside OSHA inspection.
A farmer in northern Illinois was applying anhydrous ammonia this week and as he began switching an empty NH3 nurse tank for a full tank, a representative from OSHA approached the farmer in the field.
The farmer was not wearing gloves and goggles as he was hooking the tank to the toolbar prompting the OSHA representative to pull off the side of the road and inform the farmer he needs to wear gloves and goggles when working around anhydrous ammonia.
Although the OSHA representative thought the farmer was a facility employee custom applying anhydrous ammonia it does not change the fact that gloves and goggles must be worn when working around anhydrous ammonia.
Not only is wearing proper personal protective equipment (PPE) an OSHA requirement, Illinois Department of Agriculture Rules Relating to the Handling of Anhydrous Ammonia state anyone making or breaking an ammonia connection must wear gloves and goggles.
Please take the time to inform customers and employees that it is a requirement to wear proper PPE when handling anhydrous ammonia.
OSHA Policy Change Affects Anhydrous Ammonia Facilities
Updated: Thursday, September 10, 2015
By: Anthony Humes
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has implemented a safety policy change that will affect retail facilities that store and distribute anhydrous ammonia, a form of nitrogen fertilizer.
The new policy will put 283 facilities under these new regulations in North Dakota.
Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring believes this change is an abrupt overreach by federal authorities and is considering legal action by the state.
"The fact that they didn't go through the process, the procedure properly, would warrant that. But it would also mean that we would need to visit about what these effects are in other parts of the nation," Goehring said.
The OSHA policy change is now in place and all facilities must be compliant by January 2016.
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Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring of ND, strongly objects to recent OSHA policy change regarding retail anhydrous ammonia facilities
BISMARCK, ND
Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring says a recent policy change by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on what constitutes an anhydrous ammonia retail facility is an overreach of federal authority and should be withdrawn and reconsidered.
Under the new policy change, all anhydrous ammonia facilities come under the new OSHA rule. The new policy will place 283 facilities under a different regulatory classification, which includes retail facilities. North Dakota currently has only eight (8) manufacturing and wholesale distribution facilities that fall under the rule.
“This abrupt change of a longstanding, straight-forward, and effective policy will disproportionately negatively affect North Dakota small- and medium-sized facilities, operators and farmers,” said Goehring. “This new OSHA policy is similar to having a small corner gas station maintain the same regulatory requirements as a massive oil refinery complex.”
“North Dakota anhydrous ammonia facilities are safe and already adequately regulated,” Goehring said. “This policy is unnecessary and excessive. It will impose tremendous costs to agriculture without any discernible benefit to worker or public safety.”
Goehring voiced concern about OSHA not following required federal rule-making procedures because it did not provide proper public notice nor did it adequately solicit comments on their proposed rule changes. “The proprietors and the employees of these facilities are entitled to have a voice regarding this new OSHA policy. These industry representatives and farmers have legitimate points to make and very practical feedback to provide. However, OSHA did not follow an Executive Order, which directed them to incorporate stakeholder feedback and develop best management practices before making a decision to change this longstanding policy,” said Goehring.
Goehring said implementation of the new policy could force many North Dakota small- and medium-sized operators out of business, estimating up to one-third of local dealers could close in response to their inability to implement the new rule. “With the close of so many facilities and the lack of product in our rural communities, it could force farmers to place anhydrous facilities in service without some of the precautions and practices in place to ensure safety for themselves, their workers and the public,” he said. “That very realistic outcome would be entirely counterintuitive to OSHA’s apparent intent of its new rule.”
Goehring also stated that the new OSHA policy could create other unintended consequences for public safety as product will have to travel further distances on our road system from the few remaining fertilizer facilities still in operation.
“Numerous stakeholders in the agriculture industry have met with us regarding this unexpected and unnecessary rule change. We share their concerns,” Goehring said. “In a letter to OSHA, I detailed our many concerns and requested that they nullify the new rule.”
Goehring further emphasized that “NDDA is now looking at all options available to us, to ensure North Dakota anhydrous ammonia facilities, farmers, and operators are not forced out of business by excessive, unreasonable regulation and that they have the necessary tools and resources to carry out their operations.”
The OSHA policy change is effective immediately and all anhydrous ammonia facilities must be in compliance by January 21, 2016.
Worker injured in flash fire at Dania Beach gas station
Author: Amanda Batchelor, Senior Digital Editor, abatchelor@local10.com
Jeff Weinsier, Investigative Reporter, jweinsier@Local10.com
Published On: September 11 2015
DANIA BEACH, Fla. -
Local 10 News has obtained surveillance video that shows a flash fire at a Dania Beach gas station that left one man injured on Tuesday.
Workers told Local 10 News reporter Jeff Weinsier that a man, identified as Elvio, was working on the underground tanks when vapors ignited, sparking a flash fire.
Video from the Mobil on Stirling Road and Southwest 40th Street shows Elvio jump up and run from the flames.
Elvio suffered second-degree burns to his face and has since been released from the hospital. He is expected to make a full recovery.
Two other workers from Petro Solutions who were not underground were not injured in the fire.
One man, who did not want to be identified, told Weinsier that he has never seen anything like this in his 30 years of working on gas station tanks.
Elvio has been cleared to return to work for "light duty," but remains on leave.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the incident.
These fires occur because the worker failed to evacuate the tank from vapors prior to performing work on the tank, such as welding, cutting, etc. The sparking from such work will ignite the vapors that are remaining inside the tank, causing the explosion/flash fire.
RYAN ROBINSON | Staff Writer
Two people were taken to the hospital, and 20 to 30 Marietta residents were temporarily evacuated after the odor of a propane byproduct was released Thursday night, a fire official said.
“It had the potential to be serious,” Pioneer Fire Deputy Chief Brandon Smith said. “For a while, we had no idea what it was.”
Fire units investigated a “garlicky” odor in the 600 block of West Market Street and a report of someone getting sick just after 9 p.m.
A woman who is 25 weeks pregnant was feeling sick to her stomach and had a headache while an 86-year-old woman was short of breath and had burning in her throat, Smith said. Both were taken to Lancaster General Hospital. The younger woman was later released and he said the older woman likely also was released.
Twenty to 30 residents from 10 houses were evacuated. A county hazardous materials team assured a drum holding the propane byproduct was secured and residents were allowed back in their homes by 11 p.m.
The greasy, oil-like residue that caused the odor is called “heavy ends,” a byproduct of propane when it sits for a while, Smith said. “It can be as dangerous as carbon monoxide” if residents breathe it for an extended period.
Hiltz Propane Systems, 693 W. Market St., Marietta, was storing it outside in a 55-gallon drum with a lid that was not properly secured, said Todd Haberstroh, Hiltz's office manager. When Thursday’s storms rumbled through the area, water got into the drum and stirred around the heavy ends, releasing a strong odor.
“That’s what caused the issue,” he said.
Residents actually had reported an odor in the area late Thursday morning.
A Hiltz employee moved the drum inside a building and sealed it early in the afternoon, Haberstroh said. None of the liquid heavy ends ever spilled from the container, which was half to three-quarters full before rain entered it.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection was contacted, Smith said.
Leak of potentially dangerous gas sparks state safety probe at Torrance ExxonMobil refinery
A “significant incident” at the ExxonMobil Torrance Refinery on Sunday, Sept. 6, 2015, resulted in the release of a small amount of extremely toxic hydrofluoric acid, raising renewed fears of safety at a plant already reeling from more than $500,000 in fines and facing multiple violations for flouting state safety laws. (Scott Varley / Staff Photographer)
By Nick Green, Daily Breeze
Posted: SEPTEMBER 10, 2015
State safety regulators are investigating a leak of potentially deadly modified hydrofluoric acid this week at the Torrance ExxonMobil refinery, the latest dangerous accident at the aging plant to raise questions over its ability to operate safely in a densely populated area.
Sunday’s “significant incident,” as the Torrance Fire Department called it, comes in the wake of the February explosion that Cal/OSHA said was caused by ExxonMobil’s “willful” failure to repair a piece of equipment for almost a decade even though the company was aware it could cause a life-threatening explosion.
The state issued 19 safety violations and fines in excess of $565,000 in the wake of the blast. ExxonMobil is appealing.
Cal/OSHA confirmed Thursday that its investigators were once again probing another accident at the plant. The agency declined further comment.
The leak occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning from a 3-inch nozzle as a truck containing hydrofluoric acid unloaded its contents into a vessel at the plant, according to a Fire Department report.
During the operation, “a small leak” was discovered at a rate of 10 drops per minute.
That may not sound like much, but in June 1989 a single drop of hydrofluoric acid hit a worker in the face, causing a deep burn that resulted in hospitalization.
Moreover, Torrance Fire Department officials could not say earlier in the week how long the vessel had leaked or how much acid was released, saying via email that it was under investigation. A report that could identify whether the accidental release was human error or equipment failure is due Friday.
The leak was fixed by 6 p.m. Sunday, Assistant Fire Chief Martin Serna said. That means the acid leaked for at least 15 hours.
City officials downplayed the incident.
“It was handled and resolved very quickly,” City Manager LeRoy Jackson said. “In those situations there are safety steps in place.”
Firefighters depressurized the vessel where the nozzle was leaking and sprayed it with water as a precaution. Water is used to neutralize and contain the deadly vapor that results when hydrofluoric acid is released into the air.
Those measures resulted in a reading of zero parts per million of hydrofluoric acid 2 feet from the leaking vessel, the Fire Department report said.
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Still, in a worst-case scenario at the refinery, about 5,200 pounds of the toxic vapor could be released, according to published reports. That could spread 3.2 miles and imperil more than a quarter of a million people.
ExxonMobil noted Sunday’s leak was insignificant from a safety standpoint.
“The amount of material leaked was significantly below quantities required to be reported to regulatory agencies,” spokeswoman Gesuina Paras said via email. “However, as a matter of practice, ExxonMobil notified the Torrance Fire Department and South Coast Air Quality Management District.
“There was no impact to people, the environment or the community,” she added. “We are reviewing the incident, and all findings will be incorporated in our continuing effort to improve our safety performance.”
In contrast, Jim Tarr, president of Rolling Hills Estates-based Stone Lions Environmental Corp., who has almost four decades of experience evaluating toxic chemical and air pollution exposure, said the release should be a wake-up call.
“Assuming that the facts related in the report are true and correct, it appears to be a relatively minor incident in terms of the amount released,” he said. “But it does provide a red flag for everybody who sees hopefully that this is a situation that can turn into a very serious matter with respect to off-site community exposure.
“The use of modified hydrofluoric acid at the ExxonMobil refinery needs to be discontinued as soon as possible,” Tarr added. “Everybody needs to understand these hydrofluoric acid releases can occur without notice and the next one may be much more substantial than this one.”
In April 1999, three workers required hospital treatment after a broken pipeline spilled isobutane and trace amounts of modified hydrogen fluoride, shutting down Crenshaw Boulevard for more than two hours. It was the first release of the vapor in modified form since the refinery began using it — instead of a more hazardous form — in 1997 after months of controversy.
But experts have questioned how much safer the modified form is in reality, while community members are becoming increasingly alarmed at the repeated safety lapses at the refinery.
February’s explosion literally rocked the community with force equivalent to a magnitude-1.7 earthquake that showered neighborhoods with debris.
But despite that embarrassing incident, ExxonMobil is seeking to ramp up gasoline production at the plant.
The company wants permission from the South Coast Air Quality Management District to violate air quality standards so it can use a piece of outdated pollution-control equipment to resume its gasoline refining process. The meeting will be at 9 a.m. Thursday in Diamond Bar.
Maureen Mauk, a Torrance resident and member of the refinery’s Community Advisory Panel, noted that ExxonMobil did not independently disclose the latest accident to a community now sensitized to the refinery and questioned its oft-repeated commitment to safety
“Given the knowledge of the incredibly dangerous and lethal modified hydrofluoric acid leak that took place at the ExxonMobil Torrance Refinery over the weekend and the refinery’s lack of transparency, communication and protocol following this significant event, it is obvious that now is not the time to begin allowing the corporation to begin ramping up production,” she said via email.
“I hope that, despite ExxonMobil’s enormous financial power bearing down on our town’s leadership ... we can pursue the highest standards on air quality and safety, even if it means more down time before the refinery can be fully functional.
“Our health, our air quality, and our quality of life as South Bay residents far outweighs this corporation’s time line to make money sooner versus later.”
