A contractor was performing rust corrosion removal and prevention services on pressurized piping at a chemical plant in Freeport, Texas. In October 2016, two contractor employees were seriously injured when a pipe ruptured, releasing trichlorosilane. Following an inspection, OSHA issued the contractor a two-item serious citation. The first item, grouped for penalty purposes, alleges violations of the Process Safety Management (PSM) and Hazard Communication (HazCom) standards (Citation 1, Items 1a, and 1b). The second item alleges a violation of a general industry personal protective equipment (PPE) standard (Citation 1, Item 2).
Following a hearing, Administrative Law Judge Sharon D. Calhoun affirmed all three violations and assessed the proposed $23,350 penalty. For the reasons discussed below, we affirm Items 1a and 1b and vacate Item 2.
This case was interesting in that the OSHRC recognized the facility’s Safe Work Permit as a form of a certified PPE Hazard Assessment, which I suggested in my February 2014 post: Process Safety Operating Procedures and a Certified PPE Hazard Assessment as a means to meet this job specific requirement. Many of you did not agree with my position as a properly executed Safe Work Permit would meet the requirements of a Certified PPE Haz Assessment (1910.132). My position was and has always been, that a job-specific work-permit issued before the work begins is 100X’s better than some JSA that was done years earlier and never updated and did not take into account the current working and environmental conditions. But I digress…
The contractor also tried to claim that they could not be cited for a HAZCOM issue regarding the chemical their employees were exposed to and also the PSM requirement that the employer inform their employees of the hazards of the process