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Confined Space Violations at Chemicals Facility

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Confined Space Violations at Chemicals Facility

Sulphur, LA – After a flash fire and subsequent explosion, OSHA initiated an investigation at a chemicals facility in Sulphur, Louisiana. The tragedy occurred during preventive care and maintenance activities, and it seriously injured six workers on Sept. 27, 2021.

According to OSHA’s investigation, the contract employer didn’t instruct each contract employee on the known potential hazards. The incident has exposed workers to fire, explosion, and toxic release hazards related to isolation plug failure at the Quench tower pipe.

Subsequently, OSHA issued citations with 11 serious violations as summarized below, to four employers, and the total penalties amounted to $139,427:

Confined Space Serious Violations and Citations

Of which, OSHA cited the below confined space related violations with a total fine of $30,453.

“Employers are responsible for ensuring employees have a safe workplace by having the correct confined space permits and a plan to inspect equipment to prevent serious injuries,” said Area Director Roderic Chube in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. “In addition, employers should also ensure that employees are not exposed to an airborne concentration of benzene above the permissible exposure limits.”

Key Takeaways

In summary, Martin Technical encourages all organizations to provide proper confined space training to their employees. Safety training for employees helps prevent accidents and avoid fines, ensuring the highest level of workplace safety. Also, learn more about state-of-the-art VR training with modules on Confined Spaces Virtual Reality (VR) Training. VR training provides safer safety training enabling trainees to experience real-world consequences, all while retaining more of what they learn. Employers can also have their trainees demonstrate and validate their skills remotely using VR training. VR safety training also significantly reduces human error and provides trainee data to track the completion and accuracy of tasks.

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