At 4:30 p.m. on March 26, 2019, a contractor working at an asphalt refinery in AL entered a Permit-Required Confined Space to take a video of a reactor section when he lost air supply and was asphyxiated. OSHA cited the industrial contractor for failing to ensure personnel outside the PRCS were capable of providing effective rescue, for allowing an employee to enter the permit-required confined space with insufficient lighting equipment, and for assigning members of the rescue team other duties that prevented them from responding to an emergency event. OSHA cited the refiner for failing to ensure that the confined space entry permits identified all hazards of the space, and document that all the steps required to ensure the employee’s safety in a confined space were completed. OSHA also cited the facility for failing to ensure, through periodic evaluations, that the contractor fulfilled their obligations as specified in the Process Safety Management standard.
