OSHA’s inspection found several deficiencies in the plant’s process safety management program to identify, address and eliminate hazards associated with processes using, storing, manufacturing, handling or moving of large amounts of highly hazardous chemicals onsite. In this case, the hazardous chemical is the flammable liquid, vinyl acetate, which is used in large amounts at the company’s plant. Specifically, OSHA found 13 serious violations because the company: lacked complete information about process equipment; failed to determine and document that the equipment met good engineering practices; lacked written procedures to manage changes to the process; had incomplete or outdated process hazard analyses; did not resolve process hazard analysis recommendations in a timely manner; failed to promptly address and resolve findings from a 2012 incident report; did not conduct a compliance audit of the process every three years and did not document correction of deficiencies cited in an earlier compliance audit.
Here is a breakdown of the citations: