OSHA has dined a Delaware Rail Car Tank Cleaning And Repair Facility $371,276 for Safety and Health Hazards. This same company, different location, was cited last year after a PRCS fatality inside a Rail Car (PRCS fatality cleaning a railcar (Oxygen Deficient and $551K): Membership Content). This inspection was initiated due to a complaint, but surely OSHA has to be considering an emphasis program on the “tank cleaning industry” and their PRCS entry practices. Just last week we had another PRCS accident inside a tanker truck trailer with one entrant and one would-be-rescuer dying due to a hazardous atmosphere.
In this most recent citation, OSHA took issue with several issues, but it is respiratory protection practices at the facility that caught my eye:
- Fit Testing not being done
- Grade-D Breathing Air Quality (using a portable air compressor that was NOT for breathing air)
- Entry into IDLH atmospheres with Air-line SAR(s) w/o escape air (Willful)
This was found in a July 2019 inspection and the fatality (at a different location) occurred in May 2019. One would have hoped that the company would have stepped up and raised the bar regarding their critical safety practices such as PRCS and Respirators. This is a major company – not some mom and pop shop!
PLEASE NOTE: these citations were just issued and there has not even been an informal conference, so things may change in the coming weeks. The company has contested the citations from their May 2019 PRCS fatality accident in Pittston, PA.