NV-OSHA (state plan) have cited an oil refining company for three serious violations stemming from a December explosion that left one employee seriously burned. The action proposes the refinery pay up to $20,790 in fines. Final determination is still in the administrative process. According to the state, refinery workers were attempting to restore flow to an asphalt recycle line that had become sluggish due to sub-zero temperatures. Several methods were employed to heat the line including application of plant steam inside the line. The use of a weed burner-style propane tank and torch for direct external heat, a method not prescribed in the company’s standard operating instructions, was also employed, according to the report. A blast and subsequent fire that rocked the refinery critically injured a worker, 24.
PLEASE NOTE: these citations are NOT the final settlement and some are BEFORE the employer’s informal conference. They are shared as a learning tool to show what types of issues OSHA and EPA are finding in their PSM/RMP inspections. I have scrubbed all company information from these postings as this is NOT about any one company, but rather a trend of issues that continue to be found by OSHA and EPA.
According to a report issued by the Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration, In these conditions, employees commonly used steam to get things moving. They did just that, but it wasn’t doing much. So, one employee turned to an alternative method which had been used before, grabbing a propane fueled weed burner and applying open flame to the pipes. The employee then passed the burner to another worker, 25. He was left trying to heat pipes containing asphalt directly above his head. As he did so, the steam hitting the hot asphalt inside one of the tanks created enough pressure to blow the top off one of the tanks, as it was designed to do (weak seam roof was the over pressure protection). Another employee loading a tanker truck heard a wooshing noise, turned and saw hot asphalt spraying perhaps 50 feet in the air. The worker with the “weed burner” torch was directly underneath. As the heated oil rained down on him he dropped his torch and tried to run, slipping and falling face first, his clothes and body bathed in superheated oil. Others, hearing his screams, ran to his aid, covering his body with snow. Meanwhile, the flame from the dropped weed burner set off a fire, leading to explosions in other tanks. It took firefighters more than two hours to extinguish it.
The worker was flown to Reno, then to a Sacramento burn center in critical condition with second, third and fourth degree burns over more than half his body. He survived, but today is facing a long term routine of painful physical therapy and counseling.
The OSHA report cites the facility with three serious violations:
- Neither the use of steam nor the weed burner in cold weather was included in any of its procedures for safe work permits.
- The facility didn’t address the safety issues raised by these methods in employee training.
- Although the company had fitted its employees for winter weight flame resistant clothing (FRC), it had failed to issue any.
That morning, the worker who was burned was wearing a common work jacket, no face shield and non-fire resistant gloves.
I would like to add, I have not seen this OSHA file as of the posting. I gathered this info from reports from the local news agencies. From what I can gather, the worker was burned by the hot asphalt and NOT by flames from subsequent fires, so ALTHOUGH I am a huge proponent of FRC being used in these situations, I am not sure this citation will stick around. If I am reading ALL of these news reports, and all seem to say the same thing based on what they read in the OSHA citations, the employee should have had on a “slicker suit” to protect against the hot asphalt – HOWEVER, a slicker suit and the use of an OPEN FLAME are NOT advisable!