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

1910.22(a)(1) All places of employment, passageways, storerooms, service rooms, and walking-working surfaces are kept in a clean, orderly, and sanitary condition. OSH ACT of 1970 Section (5)(a)(1): 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 combustible tissue paper dust deflagration hazards when moving accumulated (layered) fugitive dust emissions from surfaces (i.e., structural members, equipment, floors, walls, etc.) in a manner which allowed for the formation of dense dust clouds via the use of high pressure compressed air and which did not control for potential ignition sources: (a) On or about December 5, 2022, at the establishment located at 2200 Larson Road in Green Bay, Wisconsin; employees were allowed to utilize compressed air to perform blowdown methods of cleaning to remove accumulated layers of fugitive combustible tissue paper dust from horizontal surfaces including the floor, equipment, ducts, pipes, conduit, and building structural members in a manner which allowed for the generation of dense tissue paper dust clouds and which did not control for potential ignition sources from machinery and other electrical equipment. These conditions exposed employees in the building to the hazard of combustible dust deflagration (flash fire) capable of causing injury in the form of thermal burns.