A 49-year-old contract worker died when he entered a chemical storage tank to clean and inspect the tank. The victim was assigned to conduct scheduled inspections and maintenance at a chemical tank farm. Before arriving on-site, the victim received e-mails from the chemical company manager outlining the projects that he was to complete. On his first day on site, the plant manager verbally trained the victim, after which the two of them went to lunch, and then the victim left the site. The following day the victim signed in on-site at eight am. A material handler for the chemical company worked around the tank adjacent to the victim and spoke with him twice that morning. He saw the victim last mid-morning, walking back from his rental car toward the tank he was working on. After lunch, the material handler looked for the victim but could not find him. In mid-afternoon, a warehouse leadman asked if anyone had seen the victim, and no one had. He then went to check the tanks and found the victim collapsed inside one of the tanks. EMS was called, but the victim had succumbed to what the medical examiner reported as “acute heptane and toluene toxicity.”
TOSHA Citation(s) as Originally Issued
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Item 1a 1910.146(d)(4)(ii) |
Under the permit space program required by the permit-required confined space standard, the employer did not provide, and ensure that employees use properly, ventilating equipment needed to obtain acceptable entry conditions. |
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Item 1b 1910.146(d)(4)(iii) |
Under the permit space program required by the permit-required confined space standard, the employer did not provide, and ensure that employees use properly, communications equipment necessary for compliance. |
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Item 1c 1910.146(d)(4)(iv) |
Under the permit space program required by the permit-required confined space standard, the employer did not provide and ensure that employees use properly personal protective insofar as feasible engineering and work practice controls do not adequately protect employees. (Respiratory protection equipment) |
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Item 1d 1910.146(d)(4)(viii) |
Under the permit space program required by the permit-required confined space standard, the employer did not provide and ensure that employees use properly, rescue and emergency equipment. |
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Item 1e 1910.146(d)(6) |
Under the permit space program required by the permit-required confined space standard, the employer did not provide at least one attendant outside the permit space into which entry is authorized for the duration of entry operations. |
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Item 1f 1910.146(d)(9) |
Under the permit space program required by the permit-required confined space standard, the employer did not develop and implement procedures for summoning rescue and emergency services or for rescuing entrants from permit spaces. |
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Item 1g 1910.146(e)(1) |
Before entry was authorized, the employer did not document the completion of measures required to render the space safe for entry by preparing an entry permit |
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Item 1h 1910.146(f)(5) |
The entry permit that documents compliance and authorized entry to a permit space did not identify the personnel, by name, currently serving as attendants. |
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Item 1i 1910.146(f)(7) |
The entry permit that documents compliance and authorized entry to a permit space did not identify the hazards of the permit space to be entered. |
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Item 1j 1910.146(f)(12) |
The entry permit that documents compliance and authorized entry to a permit space did not identify the communication procedures used by authorized entrants and attendants to maintain contact during entry. |
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Item 1k 1910.146(h)(2) |
The employer did not ensure that all authorized entrants properly used ventilation, communication, respiratory protection, and rescue equipment. |
