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

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: The employer had assigned their employees to work in an area where there was a known potential for an explosion and/or fire but did not develop and implement a written safe work practices and procedures to cover the project. Safe work practices and procedures include hazards and controls for dust, water, source(s) of ignition, monitoring, line breaking, hot work permit(s), and engineering controls. Monitoring procedures and practices should include monitoring for the potential loss of the nitrogen blanket or the presence of oxygen at or near the point of entry. The employees were involved in the turnaround and repair of the P2S5 Processing Unit and had opened an elevator on the unit. AMONG OTHER METHODS, ONE FEASIBLE AND ACCEPTABLE ABATEMENT METHOD TO CORRECT THIS HAZARD IS to take the following multi-stepped corrective action. 1. Complete a hazard analysis of the project to be completed to determine potential hazards such as those created during line breaking, equipment repair, and hopper entry. 2. Review owners and other contractors work practices for the area to determine if they have recognized other hazards which need to be addressed or if they have work practices which could cause potential problems during your operation. 3. Develop a written safe work practices and procedures to cover the project operations and work practices. 4. Train employees who will be working on the project on the safe work practices and procedures including, but not limited to, recognition of ignition sources, monitoring procedures, line breaking procedures, chemical hazards, hot work permit(s) and special engineering controls to be used. 5. Obtain and use equipment as necessary to implement the program such as monitors for oxygen and nitrogen levels in the process lines and other safety equipment and PPE as deemed necessary. This might include such equipment as monitors for the presence of nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide, and oxygen at various strategic points inside of the process with audible and/or visible alarms which would allow time for a response by the workers. 6. Insure compliance with the program and the programs effectiveness through followup inspections of the work procedures. DISCLAIMER: 1. You are not limited to the abatement methods suggested above. 2. The methods explained are general and may not be effective in all cases. 3. The employer is responsible for selecting and carrying out an appropriate abatement method.