Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 001 Hazard: BURNS

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970: The employer did not furnish employment and a place of employment which were free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees in that employees were exposed to burn hazards from exposure to slides from a burning bank of hot ash into an impounding water basin: a) Two employees (truck drivers) standing near an impounding water basin were exposed to serious (steam) burns when a hot ash bank (being worked at the toe by a model 600 Dart endloader) slid into the water accumulation causing an "explosion type" cloud of water (steam) vapor dust and other hot material, May 14, 1986. Among other methods, some feasible and acceptable abatement methods to correct this hazard are to establish and enforce the following: 1) The hot ash bank, ranging in heights up to 35 feet (approximately) at a slope up to 35 degrees (approximately) shall be worked only by the Lima 2400 Dragline in its present state. or, 2) The Lima Dragline can level (and reduce) the working face to a height (maximum allowable) of 20 feet before the Dart endloader works the base (tip) of the face. However, all employees (and non-employees) shall be restricted by supervised methods from being closer than 150 feet of the ash bank base (tip) while either the Lima Dragline or the Dart loader is working the ash bank face and all loading operations or leveling operations by the endloader and a dragline shall cease until the trucks are placed in position to accept a load and the truck drivers are out of the trucks and a 150 feet away from the tip of the ash bank. All operations will cease after the trucks are loaded until the driver enter their trucks and are 150 feet away from the tip of the ash bank. 3) Another alternative method which would allow employees up to 75 feet during loading/working operations would be to decrease the height of the hot ash bank to 12 feet total height at 27 degrees or under slope angle. This would be allowable only by the Lima Dragline working the top and sides from present height.