A federal investigation into two workers’ fatal burns at an Oregon, Ohio, refinery’s crude unit found its operator violated OSHA’s process safety procedures for highly hazardous materials and failed to train the workers adequately. As the workers attempted to correct rising liquid levels in the fuel gas mix drum, a flammable vapor cloud formed, ignited, and then triggered an explosion in September 2022, causing the deadly burns. They also determined naphtha – a flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture – was released when flow control valves were opened in an attempt to regulate an overfill occurring in upstream process equipment. The opened valve allowed the flammable liquid to enter the refinery’s fuel gas system.
OSHA cited the facility for failing to implement shutdown procedures for the equipment when requested by the operators responding to the naphtha release and for not clearly defining conditions for emergency shutdown of the crude tower.
OSHA proposed $156,250 in penalties, an amount set by federal statutes, and cited the company for 10 serious violations and one other-than-serious violation of process safety management procedures. Specifically, the agency found the facility failed to: