The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Millard Refrigerated Services Inc. of Theodore, AL with 16 alleged safety and health violations following an incident in which 152 workers were overcome by ammonia vapors. Two of the violations relate to lack of safety training.
In August 2010, anhydrous ammonia leaked out of a 12-inch pipe located on the roof of the facility due to hydraulic shock within the pipe. A failure of a suction header inside the facility on one of the evaporators to a blast freezer occurred concurrently. The company became aware of the leak on the roof when a crane operator was overcome by vapors and fell down while evacuating his crane cab on board a ship that was being loaded by Millard. The ammonia vapors also carried across the ship canal to a site being used by Patriot Environmental and BP workers for decontamination of equipment used in the cleanup of the Deep Water Horizon oil spill. One hundred fifty-two workers from several companies went to the hospital for ammonia vapor exposure, 31 were admitted and four were placed in the intensive care unit.
Symptoms of exposure
Victims suffered from burning eyes, dizziness, shortness of breath. One witness reported seeing large white clouds of gas billowing out of the facility for about 30 minutes, Victims suffered from burning eyes, dizziness, shortness of breath.
Millard uses ammonia to freeze chicken for shipment abroad.
The company is being cited with seven serious safety and one serious health violation with $45,500 in proposed penalties. Four of the safety violations related to the incident include failure to consider hazard analysis from previous incidents; ensure an emergency shutdown would be executed in a timely and safe manner; train workers in process safety management of highly hazardous chemicals; and investigate the contributing factors to an incident that could have resulted in a catastrophic event. Other safety violations include deficiencies with ladders, respiratory protection and emergency response. The health violation is related to a lack of respirator use and training during emergency response. A serious citation is issued when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.
"the importance of an effective safety program"
"This incident demonstrates the importance of employers with process safety management covered processes, such as anhydrous ammonia refrigeration, to have an effective safety program. Such a program must include thorough investigations of all mishaps and chemical releases to identify causal factors and prevent recurrence," said Kurt Petermeyer, OSHA's area director in Mobile. "Additionally, it is imperative that employers have efficient emergency response procedures in place to ensure the protection of responding personnel and quick containment of the chemical release."
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance.
Emergency Film Group's award-winning program Anhydrous Ammonia provides right-to-know training on anhydrous ammonia, and also trains emergency responders in safe response to incidents.
