I am sharing this citation as Nitrogen (N2) use is becoming more and more popular in businesses that often times may not have the level of safety necessary to store and handle this level of hazardous materials. I have personally seen N2 being used in personal grooming services and microbrewing and now this was a bull “stud” facility where I am guessing they were freezing the sperm. Some of you may recall the 2017 incident a couple of years back at a human sperm bank that killed deputy sheriff and critically injured a supervisor of the business. See: Georgia’s Insurance & Safety Fire Commission issues Pressure Vessel Code violations following Nitrogen Fatality ($302K).
Nitrogen is a very very hazardous chemical, one where a basic HAZCOM program and training will NOT suffice. I liked this citation from OSHA because they offer several means as to how the hazards from liquid nitrogen can be managed. If a business is NOT willing to take these measures, then that should answer the question…
“Can we safely manage liquid nitrogen?”
OSHA has cited a bull stud facility for exposing workers to hazardous chemicals and toxic substances after an employee fatality. The company faces penalties of $122,602 for two willful and three serious violations. OSHA received an employer-reported referral that an employee asphyxiated from lack of oxygen due to the use of liquid nitrogen in the facility. Inspectors found that employees filled containers daily and cryogenic freezers weekly with liquid nitrogen. OSHA determined the company failed to implement safety measures, such as oxygen monitoring or ventilation to ensure that the rapidly expanding liquid nitrogen did not displace the oxygen in the room. Additionally, the company failed to train employees on potential health and physical hazards from working with nitrogen gas, and on how to detect the accumulation and release of the gas. Here is a breakdown of the citations:
NOTE: I am working on an article on using my favorite code, The International Fire Code, to design our Cryogenic systems and management needs.
The alleged violations below have been grouped because they involve similar or related hazards that may increase the potential for injury or illness.
Citation 1 Item 1a
Type of Violation: Serious; $5,398
29 CFR 1910.1200(e)(1): The employer did not develop, implement, and maintain a written hazard communication program which at least described how the criteria specified in paragraphs (f), (g), and (h) of this section for labels and other forms of warning, material safety data sheets, and employee information and training will be met, and which also included a hazardous chemicals list and methods used to inform employees of the hazards of non-routine tasks:
(a) On or about and at times prior to November 20, 2019, the employer did not ensure that a written hazard communication program was develop and implemented, which at least described how the criteria specified for labels and other forms of warning, safety data sheets, and employee information and training will be met, and which also included a hazardous chemicals list and methods used to inform employees of the hazards of non-routine tasks, had not been developed for employee exposures, such as but not limited to the following chemicals:
(1) Liquid Nitrogen-a simple asphyxiant.
Abatement Note: The written hazard communication program will also include:
(1) A list of the hazardous chemicals known to be present using an identity that is referenced on the appropriate safety data sheet (the list may be compiled for the workplace as a whole or for individual work areas); and,
(2) The methods the employer will use to inform employees of the hazards of non-routine tasks.
(3) The location and availability of the written hazard communication program, including the required list(s) of hazardous chemicals, and safety data sheets required by this section.
Citation 1 Item 1b
Type of Violation: Serious
29 CFR 1910.1200(e)(1)(i): The employer’s written hazard communication program did not include a list of the hazardous chemicals known to be present at the workplace:
(a) On or about and at times prior to November 20, 2019, the employer did not ensure a list of hazardous chemicals known to be present in the workplace was compiled. This condition exposed employees to chemical hazards.
Citation 1 Item 2
Type of Violation: Serious; $5,398
29 CFR 1910.1200(f)(6)(i): The employer did not ensure that each container of hazardous chemicals in the workplace is labeled, tagged or marked with ·either: the information specified under paragraphs (f)(l)(i) through (v) of this section for labels on shipped containers; or product identifier and words, pictures, symbols, or combination thereof, which provide at least general information regarding the hazards of the chemicals, and which, in conjunction with the other information immediately available to employees under the hazard communication program, will provide employees with the specific information regarding the physical and health hazards of the hazardous chemical:
(a) On or about and at times prior to November 20, 2019, the employer did not ensure that each container of hazardous chemicals in the workplace was labeled, tagged or marked with the appropriate hazard warnings, including but not limited to the identity of the hazardous chemicals contained therein, appropriate precautions, personal protective equipment needed while handling and at least general information regarding the hazards of the chemicals. The bulk storage room contained five Chart MVE 1842P-150 tanks and numerous shipper or Dewar containers that contained liquid nitrogen and were not labeled with the appropriate information and hazard warnings. Liquid nitrogen is a simple asphyxiant and displaces oxygen. This condition exposed employees to the hazards associated with liquid nitrogen.
Citation 1 Item 3
Type of Violation: Serious; $3,856
29 CFR 1910.1200(g)(8): The employer did not maintain in the workplace copies of the required safety data sheets for each hazardous chemical, and shall ensure that they are readily accessible during each work shift to employees when they are in their work area(s). (Electronic access and other alternatives to maintaining paper copies of the safety data sheets are permitted as long as no barriers to immediate employee access in each workplace are created by such options.):
(a) On or about and at times prior to November 20, 2019, the employer did not ensure safety data sheets for each hazardous chemical were maintained and accessible for employees. The employer did not have safety data sheets identifying chemicals being used at the facility to include liquid nitrogen. This condition exposed employees to the hazards related to liquid nitrogen.
The alleged violations below have been grouped because they involve similar or related hazards that may increase the potential for injury or illness.
Citation 2 Item 1a
Type of Violation: Willful; $53,975
29 CFR 1910.1200(h)(1): Employer did not provide employees with effective information and training on hazardous chemicals in their work area at the time of their initial assignment, and whenever a new chemical hazard the employees had not previously been trained about was introduced into their work area:
(a) On or about and at times prior to November 20, 2019, the employer did not provide employees with effective information and training on hazardous chemicals in their work area at the time of their initial assignment, and whenever a new physical or health hazard the employees have not previously been trained about was introduced into their work area such as but not limited to liquid nitrogen. Employees were not provided safety and health related training associated with chemicals. This condition exposed employees to the hazards related to chemical use.
Citation 2 Item 1b
Type of Violation: Willful
29 CFR 1910.1200(h)(3)(i): Methods and observations were not used to detect the presence or release of a hazardous chemical in the work area (such as monitoring conducted by the employer, continuous monitoring devices, visual appearance or odor of hazardous chemicals when being released, etc.):
(a) On or about and at times prior to November 20, 2019, the employer did not ensure employees were provided training to include the methods and observations needed to detect the presence or release of nitrogen gas in the work area. Employees filled shipper or Dewar containers daily and Chart MVE 1842P-150 Cryogenic Freezers [I have provided a link so readers can see these freezers] weekly with liquid nitrogen. The employer did not provide training on the methods to detect the release and accumulation of nitrogen gas to include the physical and health hazards and characteristics related to the sublimation from liquid to gas while filling the bulk tanks and the rapid expansion in an enclosed room creating an oxygen-deficient atmosphere. The employer did not provide employees with measures to protect themselves from these hazards to include specific procedures to include work practices, emergency procedures, and personal protective equipment to be used. On the evening of November 20, 2019, an employee died as a result of working in an oxygen-deficient atmosphere as a result of filling bulk storage tanks with liquid nitrogen.
Citation 2 Item 1c
Type of Violation: Willful
29 CFR 1910.1200(h)(3)(ii): Employees were not trained on the physical, health, simple asphyxiation, combustible dust, and pyrophoric gas hazards, as well as hazards not otherwise classified, of the chemicals in the work area:
(a) On or about and at times prior to November 20, 2019, the employer did not ensure employees were provided training to related to the physical, health, and simple asphyxiant characteristics of liquid nitrogen. Employees filled shipper or Dewar containers daily and Chart MVE 1842P-150 Cryogenic Freezers [I have provided a link so readers can see these freezers] weekly with liquid nitrogen. The employer did not provide training on the characteristics of liquid nitrogen to include the physical hazards, health hazards, and that liquid nitrogen is a simple asphyxiant. On the evening of November 20, 2019, an employee died as a result of working in an oxygen-deficient atmosphere as a result of filling bulk storage tanks with liquid nitrogen. This condition exposed employees to the hazards related to the use of liquid nitrogen in the work area.
Citation 2 Item 1d
Type of Violation: Willful
29 CFR 1910.1200(h)(3)(iii): The employer did not provide training that included measures employees can take to protect themselves from these hazards, including specific procedures the employer has implemented to protect employees from exposure to hazardous chemicals, such as appropriate work practices, emergency procedures, and personal protective equipment to be used:
(a) On or about and at times prior to November 20, 2019, the employer did not ensure employees were provided training that included measures employees could take to protect themselves from the hazards related to liquid nitrogen. On the evening of November 20, 2019, an employee died as a result of working in an oxygen-deficient atmosphere as a result of filling bulk storage tanks with liquid nitrogen. This condition exposed employees to the hazards related to the use of liquid nitrogen in the work area. This condition exposed employees to the hazards related to dispensing liquid nitrogen.
Citation 2 Item 2
Type of Violation: Willful; $53,975
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 dispensing liquid nitrogen which creating an oxygen deficient atmosphere causing asphyxia:
(a) On or about and at times prior to November 20, 2019, the employer did not ensure employees were protected from an oxygen-deficient atmosphere created while dispensing liquid nitrogen to fill bulk semen storage tanks using a one-inch diameter high-pressure cryogenic transfer hose in an enclosed room. Employees were tasked to fill a series of Chart MVE 1842P-150 Cryogenic Freezers [I have provided a link so readers can see these freezers] in an enclosed storage room on a weekly basis. The room was not equipped with an adequate engineered ventilation system or oxygen monitoring equipment or system. On the evening of November 20, 2019, an employee began topping the bulk tanks off with liquid nitrogen when the room became filled with nitrogen gas causing the employee to collapse and eventually succumb to the oxygen-deficient atmosphere created in the room. This condition exposed an employee to an oxygen deficient atmosphere while filling bulk tanks with liquid nitrogen.
(b) On or about and at times prior to November 20, 2019, the employer did not ensure employees were protected from an oxygen-deficient atmosphere created while dispensing liquid nitrogen in the garage. Employees were using a cryogenic transfer hose equipped with an agitator to fill shipping Dewars and the Chart MVE CryoCart in an enclosed garage on a daily basis. The room was not equipped with an adequate engineered ventilation system or oxygen monitoring equipment or system. This condition exposed an employee to an oxygen deficient atmosphere while filling bulk tanks with liquid nitrogen.
Abatement Note: Among other methods, one feasible and acceptable abatement method to control this hazard is to follow manufacturer’s instructions found in the Chart Cryogenic Freezer Technical Manual PIN 13289499 #3. Safety and First Aid-Liquid Nitrogen Safety states,
Chart Cryogenic Freezers must be installed and operated in well-ventilated areas.
Another feasible method to materially reduce the hazard associated with oxygen-deficient atmospheres in an enclosed room would be to implement the following measures:
1. Install a fixed oxygen monitoring system in areas where liquid nitrogen is dispensed and stored within buildings that will continuously monitor the oxygen levels and is equipped with an audible and visual warning system inside and outside the room to warn employees if oxygen levels in the room drop below a preset value.
2. Implement an effective industrial ventilation exhaust system to control oxygen levels in areas within buildings where liquid nitrogen is dispensed and stored to ensure that conveyance systems and ducting are designed in accordance with recognized and accepted good engineering practices such as those found in the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) publication, Industrial Ventilation A Manual of Recommended Practice for Design. 30th Edition-2019.
3. Relocate the liquid nitrogen dispensing system used to fill shipping Dewars and the Chart MVE CryoCart from the garage into the bulk storage room once the oxygen monitoring and industrial ventilation systems have been implemented to ensure employees are protected during dispensing operations.
4. Establish, implement and train employees on safe work procedures to include the use of cryogenic Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for dispensing liquid nitrogen in the bulk storage room. Develop standard operating procedures (SOPs) associated with the storage and dispensing of liquid nitrogen and provide training to ensure employees understand the requirements to include fundamental knowledge of the oxygen monitoring and ventilation systems.
5. Develop and train employees on emergency procedures and implement a plan to include escape routes in the event of a leak or spill in the bulk storage room.
CLICK HERE for the citations