Two explosions, two hours apart, sent two (2) workers of a storage tank sales and servicing company to the hospital, one with severe burns. The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries is fining the Des Moines, Wash. business $166,423 for ignoring rules that keep workers safe.
A resort on the Kitsap Peninsula hired the service company to inspect an 18,000-gallon underground propane tank and determine if it could be put back into use. When two workers cut open piping to the underground tank, propane leaked, causing flammable gas and vapor to spread throughout a fenced area where above-ground tanks are sited. The gas and vapor eventually reached a vaporizer unit that converts the liquid propane in the above-ground tanks into gas. The vaporizer has a battery-powered auto-ignitor that was not “locked out” to prevent it from turning on, and when it kicked on, the propane in the air ignited, causing an explosion. No one was hurt in the first explosion. The owner of the servicing company looked at the vaporizer unit but did not modify the settings. He told inspectors he did not see the button to shut off the ignitor. Work continued with no change in safety protocols. Two hours later, the workers removed the cover of the underground tank, causing propane gas and vapor to leak again. Minutes later, the auto-ignitor sparked a second explosion, shown in the security video (see below), badly burning two workers.
“It didn’t just happen once. The employer knew the risks and allowed it to happen again,” said Craig Blackwood, assistant director for L&I’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health. “These workers will carry those scars the rest of their life because their employer ignored commonsense rules to keep them safe.” One worker was hospitalized with burns to 30% of his body and spent more than a month in the Intensive Care Unit. The other suffered burns to his arms and was treated and released from the hospital the same day.
L&I cited the business for knowingly disregarding the rules for accessing the confined space of the underground tank and failing to control the source of ignition where flammable gas was present. In addition to the willful, serious violation, L&I cited the business for three serious violations, including lack of training for its workers.
