This week OSHA issued a willful violation for Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) deficiencies involving a spray dryer absorber (SDA) at a power generation plant. What is shocking is the fact that a 46-year-old worker lost four (4) fingers on his right hand in the December 2015 accident. During the course of its investigation into the December 2015 accident, OSHA found that multi-finger amputations also occurred on this SAME SDA in August 2011 and October 2012. Folks, this happened not at a “mom and pop shop” but rather at a power company with generating capacity of 26 GW, capable of supplying more than 21 million households, operates 35 Power Plants across eight states, has 830,000 retail customers, residential customers and 23,000 commercial, industrial and municipal customers, and Annual Revenues of over $5 billion! (Source) And here we sit in 2016, unable to comply with one of the most fundamental OSHA standards that are now over 25 years old, and three (3) workers have suffered debilitating – life-changing injuries.
Here is a look at the citations: