Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 001A Hazard: STRUCK BY

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 or about March 17, 2005, the employer did not protect all employees from the hazards associated with hydrostatic testing of a pipeline, such as being struck by the testing fluid under high pressure or the whiplash of broken high-pressure pipe, valves, tubing, hose or part(s). Feasible methods of abatement include, but are not limited to, the following: 1.develop, utilize and implement of a written test plan and a written test procedure as advised in American Petroleum Institute's (API) Recommended Practice 1110, which are stated to be proven sound engineering practices; 2.provide employee training on the hazards associated with the process of hydrostatic testing and the employer's plan to protect employees from associated hazards; 3.orientate connections to the test head so that the path of travel of connector hoses is vertical and not horizontal; and 4.monitor test conditions with computer-aided equipment so that an employee is not persistently located in a danger zone during the test.