August 16, 2016
OSHA cites Oprandy's Fire & Safety Equipment Inc., an Orange County, NY fire extinguisher service company, after two workers suffer severe injuries in tank explosion
Oprandy's Fire & Safety Equipment faces OSHA penalties for 7 serious violations
Employer name: Oprandy's Fire & Safety Equipment Inc.
49 Brookline Ave.
Middletown, New York
The company sells installs and services fire extinguishers and suppression equipment.
Inspection site: 49 Brookline Ave., Middletown, New York
What prompted OSHA's inspection: Two employees were injured severely on Feb. 12, 2016, when a compressed gas cylinder designed for a fire-suppression system exploded while they were attempting to fill it with compressed air from a high-pressure source.
Investigation findings: U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors from the Albany Area Office found the air device's pressure exceeded the cylinder's listed pressure limit. They also found the Oprandy's Fire & Safety Equipment failed to train the employees on the procedures needed to fill the cylinder properly.
Additional hazards involved the company failing to:
- Equip the tank and valve assembly with a pressure relief device.
- Assess the workplace for hazards requiring the use of personal protective equipment.
- Require personnel to use personal protective eyewear and footwear.
- Stack and secure fire extinguishers and compressed gas cylinders properly.
- Develop, implement and/or maintain a written chemical hazard communication program and provide employees with training on hazardous chemicals.
As a result of these conditions, OSHA cited the company for seven serious violations of workplace safety standards.
Proposed penalties: $19,774
QUOTE: "Oprandy's Fire & Safety Equipment needlessly exposed its employees to a potentially fatal hazard that caused them to suffer serious injuries," said Robert Garvey, OSHA's area director for Albany. "Injuries are preventable when employers follow basic safety precautions in their industry, and train employees to recognize and prevent hazards."
View the citations: http://go.usa.gov/xjtH9
Oprandy's Fire & Safety Equipment has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, meet 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 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 OSHA's Albany Area Office at 518-464-4338.
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State police say 35-year-old Christopher Foust and 23-year-old Frank Buono, of Goshen, were filling an ansul system - used in commercial kitchens for restaurants - when it burst and severed Foust's legs. Foust is a former Warwick firefighter. (February 12, 2016 7:46 PM)
Two employees at Oprandy's Fire and Safety Equipment in Middletown were airlifted to Westchester Medical Center Friday after a fierce explosion.
State police say 35-year-old Christopher Foust and 23-year-old Frank Buono, of Goshen, were filling an ansul system – used in commercial kitchens for restaurants – when it burst and severed Foust's legs. Foust is a former Warwick firefighter.
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Two men severely injured in Town of Wallkill explosion
MICHAEL RANDALL/TIMES HERALD-RECORD | Two people were airlifted to a trauma center Friday morning after an apparent explosion in the Town of Wallkill.
By Michael Randall
Times Herald-Record
Posted Feb. 12, 2016 at 11:05 AM
Updated Feb 12, 2016 at 7:51 PM
TOWN OF WALLKILL – Two workers were seriously hurt when a fire extinguisher tank exploded at a fire equipment supply business Friday morning.
The explosion happened at Oprandy’s Fire & Safety Equipment at 49 Brookline Ave. around 9:30 a.m. A woman who lives across the street said the explosion shook her house.
The two workers were identified as Frank J. Buono, 23, of Goshen, and Christopher Foust, 35, of Warwick.
Police said Foust was filling a fire extinguisher tank with air in a rear room of the building when the tank ruptured for an as yet unknown reason. Foust suffered severe injuries to both of his legs and Buono, who was standing nearby, suffered a severe injury to his right leg.
State police troopers and Town of Wallkill police officers who responded to the scene fashioned tourniquets for the victims’ wounds while waiting for emergency medical service personnel to arrive. The Mechanicstown Fire Department, which is just around the corner from the business, also responded to the scene.
Both men were conscious and alert, state police Maj. Joseph Tripodo said.
Two LifeNet helicopters that landed in a field by the Grand Rental Station at East Main Street and Fairfax Avenue, a block from Oprandy’s, flew the men to Westchester Medical Center. They were listed in serious condition Friday afternoon.
Wallkill Supervisor Dan Depew, who was at the scene of the explosion, described it as “horrific,” and he said Foust’s and Buono’s lives will be “changed forever” because of the extent of their leg injuries. He said one of the men will probably have to undergo an amputation, but that had not been determined as of Friday.
Depew said it just so happened that town officer Jared Loucks, who had been key in promoting first-aid training for town officers and is a certified paramedic, was one of the responding officers.
“He was in the right place at the right time, 100 percent,” Depew said.
Depew said the other two responding Wallkill officers, Jorge Medina and Joseph Stuber, also helped save Foust’s and Buono’s lives, thanks to the training Loucks advocated. “Seconds mattered,” Depew said. “It was an all-hands-on-deck situation.”
Oprandy officials could not be reached.
Tripodo said the federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration was notified about the accident and would send someone to the business to investigate.