Moments before a blast ripped through a railcar on April 14, 2015, a check of the air quality inside indicated a serious risk of an explosion. Despite the warning, the company sent two employees, aged 41 and 45, into the railcar to work without monitoring the air continuously for explosive hazards as required, nor providing the employees with emergency retrieval equipment or properly fitted respirators. The explosion that resulted blew the railcar’s escape ladder off and killed the two men, trapping one inside and hurling the other off the top of the railcar. A third employee was injured. After its investigation following the explosion, OSHA cited the railcar cleaning service for seven egregious willful, three willful, two repeated, 20 serious, and one other than serious safety and health violations on Oct. 13, 2015. The company faces penalties of $963,000. OSHA also placed the company in the agency’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program. The egregious willful violations involve multiple instances of failing to monitor air quality properly in confined spaces as required and for not fit-testing employees required to use respirators in railcars. In the most recent citations, the facility also failed to:
