November 3, 2016
OSHA cites both South Dakota refinery, construction companies after
worker suffers fatal burns when ethanol ignites during expansion project
Investigators find multiple safety violations for mishandling hazardous products
HUDSON, S.D. - Federal investigators found multiple safety violations at a South Dakota ethanol refinery expansion project after a 38-year-old pipefitter suffered fatal burn injuries when ethanol spilled from a process pipe he was working on and was ignited by flames from nearby welding operations.
On Nov. 1, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued five serious safety violations to the worker's employer Bilfinger-Westcon, the project's construction contractor. Inspectors determined the contractor allowed welding work to occur without verifying that the area was free of flammable liquids.
OSHA cited the refinery operator and owner, Sioux River Ethanol LLC which operates as Poet Biorefining-Hudson, for three serious violations of OSHA's process safety management standards including failing to ensure the process pipe being removed did not contain ethanol.
"This death was needless and preventable if critical safety standards had been followed," said Sheila Stanley, OSHA's area director in Sioux Falls. "Communication between the host employer and all contractors is critical in working safely at any site covered by the Process Safety Management Standard. All aspects of permit systems including 'hot work' and line break must be implemented to ensure that welding activities do not occur near line break activities where flammable materials may be released."
Agency investigators determined the pipefitter was removing a vent line on the sixth floor of the refinery's distillation building on May 6, 2016, when the incident occurred. As he detached a nine-foot segment of this line, 190-proof ethanol spilled onto him, flowed through the grated flooring, and ignited on the fourth floor due to the welding operations occurring there. The resulting fire engulfed the worker, causing fatal injuries that led to his death the following day.
The agency cited his employer Bilfinger-Westcon for:
- Conducting welding operations in an area where flammable liquids could be present.
- Failing to provide flame retardant clothing.
- Not training workers in procedures for process safety procedures and hazards, associated with working in a processing facility.
OSHA has proposed penalties of $62,355. Based in Bismarck, North Dakota, Bilfinger-Westcon is a diversified industrial construction company that provides construction services to large industrial processing facilities throughout the nation. View current citations here.
The agency cited Poet Biorefining-Hudson for failing to:
- Inform contractors working at their facility of the hazards related to ethanol processing.
- Implement written procedures to conduct shutdown activities including verifying the process piping did not contain ethanol.
- Ensure safe work practices including controlling the entrance, presence and exit of contract workers within the process area.
OSHA has proposed penalties of $37,413 to the Hudson-based company, a leading producer of ethanol and other biorefined products, operating more than 25 U.S. facilities. View current citations here.
Both companies have 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 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 South Dakota Area Office at 605-251-2021.
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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HUDSON, SD – OSHA is investigating a fatal fire at a South Dakota ethanol plant that killed one worker and another injured in the May 6 fire at a POET Biorefining plant south of Hudson.
The cause of the fire hasn’t been determined, but the Occupational Safety and Health Administration says the worker who died was welding inside a tank at the time. The welder was flown to a Minnesota burn hospital, where he died. The other worker was treated at a hospital and released.
Both contractors were employed by Bismarck, N.D.-based Bilfinger Westcon Industries, an industrial construction company. Neither employee’s name has been released.
The South Dakota OSHA office is also investigating the death of a worker who fell from a roof in Watertown in April. Justin Althoff, 24, died after falling 35 feet from the roof of the Watertown Recreation Center.
In late April, OSHA issued fines against two companies for the death of a Brandon man killed when a storage tank he was welding on exploded. South Dakota Soybean Processors of Volga was fined a total of $25,510 and CCM Welding Repair and Fabrication of Minneota, Minn. was fined $11,200. Neither company measured the flammability of the soap stock inside the tank, vapors from which caught fire and caused the explosion.
In 2015, Sioux Falls company Josten Concrete Products was fined $10,720 after a worker was crushed to death by a 3,200-pound culvert in July 2014. OSHA said the company did not take steps to protect employees from objects that could fall and cause serious injury.
Nov. 2, 2016
OSHA finds Arkansas steel wire company failed repeatedly
to protect workers from amputation hazards
Employer name:Bekaert Corp.
1881 Bekaert Drive
Van Buren, Arkansas
Citations Issued:Nov. 2, 2016
Investigation Findings: A Bekaert Corp. employee suffered amputation while trying to untangle moving wire at the Arkansas facility that manipulates and coats steel products. Inspectors from the U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Little Rock Area office found machines that carry steel wire and pulleys with unguarded pinch points, a violation for which OSHA cited the company at the same location in April 2015. The agency identified the most recent violation in an inspection that began July 7, 2016 resulting in penalties for repeat violation.
Proposed penalties: $124,710
Quote: "Despite our warnings, Bekaert Corp. has allowed unsafe activities to occur and now a worker has suffered an amputation as a result," said Carlos Reynolds, OSHA's Area Director in Little Rock. "This employer must take seriously its responsibility to protect the safety and health of its employees. We will continue to inspect and cite this facility until the company properly guards its machinery, and complies with all safety requirements."
Link to citations: https://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/BekaertCorporation_1160277.pdf
Information: Bekaert is a global company specializing in steel wire transformation and coating. The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citation 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 Little Rock Area Office at 501-224-1841.
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GREED IS THE UNDOING OF HILLARY AND BILL CLINTON. FBI AGENTS DECIDED TO PROTECT OUR COUNTRY DESPITE DOJ INTERFERENCE WITH THE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS
Despite the obstructions of the investigations of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) by the very-political U.S. Department of Justice (Loretta Lynch, and other cronies), some very brave FBI agents decided to put their careers and jobs on-the-line by disclosing criminal investigations of Hillary and Bill Clinton.
The information that has been disclosed thus far, is truly earth shuttering:
- Hillary and Bill Clinton enriched themselves by the hundreds of millions of dollars by forcing people and entities and countries to pay them for speeches in exchange for access to the government and special favors;
- Hillary Clinton, in an effort to hide these criminal activities, created a secret private server at her home;
- When U.S. Congress requested that all server information be handed over to them, Hillary Clinton ordered the records destroyed, along with 13 cell phones, computers and other electronic devices;
- Hillary Clinton then continued to lie to the people and the FBI and the U.S. Congress regarding her actions;
- We now know that at least 5 foreign intelligent agencies managed to hack Hillary Clinton's private email server; our country's secrets were thus jeopardized and/or became available to foreign actors;
- The U.S. DOJ has been fighting the FBI investigators tooth and nail to slow down the investigation of Hillary Clinton and/or to prevent the agents from actually investigating or limiting the investigations; many criminal statutes were not used against Hillary Clinton and her stuff;
- DOJ's Loretta Lynch even met with Bill Clinton privately for 40 minutes or so prior to announcing the ending of Hillary Clinton's criminal investigation by the FBI in July 2016;
- Director Comey has been fighting with Lynch over the limits placed upon his agency by Obama/Lynch; this is the reason he disclosed so much information to the public during his July 2016 announcement; he later (October 28, 2016) revealed to US Congress that he continues the investigation of Hillary Clinton;
- We also now know that that are multiple investigations of Hillary Clinton by the FBI: the email server; the Bill and Hillary Foundation pay-to-play allegations; other corruption within the Obama administration;
- Many FBI agents have decided to leak this information to the public; god bless them, as they are the true unknown heroes in this mess. It is tragic that we ended up like that as a country, but the greed of Hillary Clinton is her own undoing. She thought that she will get away with it by hiding her activities and shielding herself by many layers of staff. But some of that staff has been compromised.
- CNN parted ways with political commentator Donna Brazile after leaked e-mails demonstrated what appeared to be improper collusion with Hillary Clinton's campaign. Donna Brazile then found a job with Hillary Clinton's campaign, providing more proof of the unethical collusion;
- DOJ's Peter Kadzik provides a very helpful "heads up" about Hillary's email server investigation. This is what Kadzik emailed to John Podesta (via gmail) on May 19, 2015:
- There is a HJC oversight hearing today where the head of our Civil Division will testify. Likely to get questions on State Department emails. Another filing in the FOIA case went in last night or will go in this am that indicates it will be awhile (2016) before the State Department posts the emails.
This provides proof of the collusion between Obama's DOL and the Clinton Campaign. They do everything they can to prevent or stop the criminal investigation of Hillary and Bill Clinton. And when these illegal activities are exposed, they then attack the people who expose this information to the public. These are some very dangerous criminal thugs folks. Hopefully people will open-up their eyes and get rid of them and allow Trump and the people for change to drain the swamp. All the polls and news show that this is now within reach; it is not a long-standing dream anymore. Let us get the crooks out of government.
NOVEMBER 2, 2016
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities fined a contractor $100,000 for damaging a gas line in Elizabeth earlier this year and attempting an unauthorized repairs without notifying the gas company, or emergency officials.
The contractor, Henkels & McCoy, damaged the line in the 500 block of South Park Street in Elizabeth on April 5, the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) said.
"We take all violations of those safety regulations very seriously because any violation can be a potential threat to the safety of the public, utility workers and first responders," BPU President Richard Mroz said in an statement.
The BPU said their investigation showed the Henkels & McCoy crew did not call 911 or notify Elizabethtown Gas, the gas distribution company, immediately after causing the damage.
"During the course of the investigation, Board staff became concerned with actions of Henkels & McCoy, particularly the failure by Henkels & McCoy to properly report a natural gas incident to 911," the statement said.
"It is important to note that we are a company that has embraced safety first in all operations as our guiding principle," a spokesperson for Henkels & McCoy said.
"Our leadership and every one of our more than 4,500 employees are dedicated to the highest standards of work site safety and to continuous improvement to safeguard employees, contractors, and the community at large," the spokesperson said.
The BPU fined PSE&G $725,000 and Henkels & McCoy $600,000 for each company's role in the March 2014 explosion. PSE&G was also fined another $275,000 for other violations
As part of the settlement agreement reached by Henkels & McCoy and BPU staff, the company made no admission of any violation of law or wrongdoing, but agreed to take corrective actions and make process enhancements, the BPU said.
Last year, a BPU investigation resulted in Henkels & McCoy being named as a responsible party in a fatal gas explosion that rocked a Ewing neighborhood in 2014.
At that site, a Henkels & McCoy work crew believed they hit a gas line more than an hour before the blast, but did not call 911.
The BPU fined PSE&G $725,000 and Henkels & McCoy $600,000 for each company's' role leading to the fatal explosion - the BPU's largest fines at the time, the agency said.
Also, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fined the company $14,000 for two "serious" violations in March of 2015 for the Ewing blast.
Other OSHA fines against Henkels & McCoy include $70,000 in March 2013 for repeat trenching hazards at a site in Bayonne and $42,000 for safety violations in Neptune in August 2013.
