OSH ACT of 1970 SECTION (5)(a)(1):
The employer did not furnish employment and a place of employment which were free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees in that employees were exposed to struck-by hazards:
The employer did not establish, communicate, and implement safe work practice procedures to eliminate struck-by hazards when pipefitters remove flange caps from pipes being leak tested using pneumatic pressure.
The employer is failing to protect employees from struck-by hazards. This was most recently documented on November 27, 2017, at a job site located in Olathe, Kansas in that the employer did not develop safe work practices for employees opening flanges that were under pressure in the Reverse Logistics area near the loading dock. A pipefitter removed the bolts from a coupling device that was securing a ten-inch flange cap to an isolated pipe section under approximately 100 pounds of pressure. The ten-inch flange cap popped off from the isolated pressurized pipe section, striking the employee.
The employer did not establish, communicate, and implement safe work practice procedures to eliminate struck-by hazards when pipefitters remove flange caps from pipes being leak tested using pneumatic pressure. One feasible and acceptable means of abatement would be to develop and implement safe work practice procedures to eliminate struck-by hazards when pipefitters remove flange caps from pipes.
The safe work practice procedures shall utilize water at ambient temperature or another compatible liquid as a test medium as outlined in ASME B31.9-2014 paragraphs 937.3.1, 937.3.4, and paragraph 937.4. Employees shall be trained over safe work practice procedures that include, but not limited to the following:
(1) establishing a safe zone where employees can stand prior to opening a flange,
(2) placing the pressure gage for the pipeline being tested upstream of check valves, and
(3) establishing a service life for the pressure gage being used to set the pressure inside the piping section being tested.