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

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: a) On 9/3/86, while shredding filled aerosol cans, employees were exposed to the hazards of fire and explosion from the continuous presence of explosive/flammable levels of isobutone-in-air mixtures in the shredder room. One feasible and acceptable method to correct this hazard among others, is the use of the following engineering control: 1) The enclosure of the open gap between the discharge point of the shredder and the collection hopper directly below, it which will ensure the maintenance of an inert nitrogen gas blanket within the shredding system and the exclusion of a source of ignition and oxygen. The improvement would also include pressure relief venting of the collection copper.