Citation 2 Item 34
Type of Violation: Willful-Serious
29 CFR 1910.119(m)(1): The employer did not investigate each incident which resulted in, or could reasonably have resulted in a catastrophic release of highly hazardous chemicals in the workplace:
The employer did not ensure that process upsets, near-misses, and equipment failures that could reasonably have resulted in a catastrophic release were identified and investigated as incidents, in that recurring abnormal conditions such as loss of agitation, overheating from valve or control failures, emergency-stop failures, and other upset conditions were treated as routine maintenance work orders without corresponding incident investigation, causal analysis, or documented corrective action.
Employer intentionally disregarded 29 CFR 1910. 119(m) incident investigation requirements by deliberately substituting its own “catastrophic release” threshold as a categorical exclusion from investigation. In response to TOSHA Request #308, the employer repeatedly asserted, across multiple Building 602 events involving credible fire/explosion precursors, that “An incident investigation report was not prepared” because it determined each event “did not result in, and could not reasonably have resulted in, a catastrophic release,” and then defended that determination by invoking human-factors controls and “redundant safeguards” rather than producing the required incident investigation files. This violation is being classified as willful based on intentional disregard and plain indifference.
Proposed Penalty: $70000.00