Dive Brief:
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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has fined a South Dakota refinery and the construction company doing work there a total of $99,768 in the wake of a deadly May 2016 fire.
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The agency said a construction worker was killed after welding sparks ignited spilled ethanol, causing fatal burn injuries to the 38-year-old Bilfinger-Westcon employee. Investigators said the deceased was working on a process pipe when 190-proof ethanol poured onto him and onto welding operations two floors below through grating in the floor.
- After a post-accident inspection, OSHA said it found several serious safety violations and cited the construction company, Bilfinger-Westcon, and the refinery, Poet Biorefining-Hudson (view citations here and here).
Dive Insight:
OSHA issued five serious safety violations to North Dakota-based Bilfinger-Westcon (fined $62,355) for allowing welding to take place near potentially flammable liquids, for not providing employees with flame-retardant apparel and for failing to provide training on how to work safely in an ethanol-processing facility. The agency cited Poet Biorefining-Hudson (fined $37,413) for not letting contractors know about ethanol-related hazards and for not having written procedures around activities like checking pipes for ethanol.
In September, welding sparks caused a near-catastrophic fire on the Liberty Bridge in Pittsburgh. According to city officials, Joseph B. Fay Co. employees' hot slag set fire to a PVC pipe, which ignited a tarp, leading to a fire so intense that it bent structural steel on the bridge. Pittsburgh Fire Chief Darryl Jones said the company did not pull a $16 permit that would have required both a fire inspection and someone standing by with a fire extinguisher. However, Fay maintained that its crew — with hoses and extinguishers — was on the bridge at the time of the fire.
OSHA is investigating the incident, and the agency said it could take as long as six months to come to a determination. However, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation said Fay owes $3.3 million in liquidated damages as a result of the fire, not including bridge repair costs.