Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 007 Hazard: REFINERY

29 CFR 1910.119(f)(4) The employer shall develop and implement safe work practices to provide for the control of hazards during operations such as lockout/tagout; confined space entry; opening process equipment or piping; and control over entrance into a facility by maintenance, contractor, laboratory, or other support personnel. These safe work practices shall apply to employees and contractor employees. A. The employer did not ensure safe work practices were implemented for controlling contract employee's entrance and exit into covered process areas. This violation was identified during inspections of the facility from November 2009 to March 2010, Silver Eagle Refining Inc., 2355 South 1100 West, Woods Cross, UT, 84087. Both the employer's 2006 and 2009 PSM Compliance Audits identified vehicle access as a concern and stated that Silver Eagle should evaluate the procedures for controlling entrance into the refinery units. Review of site policy 6.15, Refinery Access, the employer stated: "Contractors - Any vehicle brought into the plant as part of the contractor's work must carry a vehicle pass while in the plant." During onsite inspections, vehicles were noted to be present in and around covered process areas without a vehicle pass. Both gasoline and diesel vehicles were permitted onsite in and around the processing units. Interviews of vehicle drivers demonstrated that employees would just check in at the front desk and be provided a gate access card. Review of prior instances showed cases where vehicles entered electrically classified areas without a vehicle permit or hot work permit. By not controlling access to covered process areas and/or electrically classified areas, ignition sources were introduced into potentially hazardous environments. Such sources of ignition can cause catastrophic events should flammable vapors be present. This may be a system-wide occurrence which requires the evaluation of all refinery access.