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Imperial Sugar explosion update

Last month America’s 60 Minutes broadcast an article on the explosion at the Imperial Sugar plant (pictured below) in Port Wentworth which killed 13 workers and hospitalised 40. On 25 July 2008, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued citations proposing penalties totalling $8,777,500 against the Imperial Sugar Co. and its two affiliates alleging violations at their plants in Port Wentworth and Gramercy.

The US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has released some details about its appearance at the US Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety, Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, on 29 July 2008. (Transcripts and video are available HERE)

CSB Chairman John Bresland said the tragedy demonstrates the need for a new OSHA standard that would cover a range of industries exposed to this hazard, such as food, chemicals, plastics, automotive parts, pharmaceuticals, electrical power (where generated by coal) and others.
According to the CSB, Chairman Bresland told the subcommittee, chaired by Sen. Patty Murray of Washington,

‘After witnessing the terrible human and physical toll from the Imperial explosion, I believe the urgency of a new combustible dust standard is greater than ever. A new standard, combined with enforcement and education, will save workers’ lives.’
‘We obtained documents indicating that certain parts of Imperial’s milling process were releasing tens of thousands of pounds of sugar per month into the work area. Based on our evidence, Imperial did not have a written dust control program or a program for using safe dust removal methods. And the company lacked a formal training program to educate its workers about combustible dust hazards.’

Bresland emphasised the need for a uniform Federal standard:

‘Instead of the present patchwork of miscellaneous federal, state, and local requirements, the Chemical Safety Board has recommended that OSHA develop a single, comprehensive, uniform standard – based on the sound, consensus-based technical principles and practices that are embodied in NFPA standards,’ Chairman Bresland said. ‘Ambiguities in the NFPA standards need to be resolved in clear, enforceable regulations developed by a thorough, public rulemaking process.’

Beaconsfield mine supervisor’s safety comments

It is reported in today’s Australian newspaper that the coronial inquest into the death of Larry Knight has heard from Mr Knight’s supervisor, Gavan Cheesman. Mr Cheesman has said that he was not aware of a report of seismic activity at level 925 (the scene of the fatal rockfall) from the previous shift. If he had

“I would have gone down personally and checked out the area before sending them (Knight, Russell and Webb) in”.

This reinforces the importance of taking time before a job or shift starts to familiarise yourself with the state of the workplace. In many industries this takes the form of a job safety analysis. In hospitals there is a handover process between nursing staff.

Mr Cheesman has also said that he believes that the void at levels 915 and 925 was too large and insufficiently supported. He agreed that the inadequate support contriubuted to the rockfall that caused the death of Larry Knight.

The inquest is continuing.

Would you fire someone who could fire back?

Any gun issue in the United States comes down to the right to bear arms but what happens when that right conflicts with the employers’ obligations to provide a safe working environment and one without risks to health.

On 9 April 2008 Reuters reported on a new law in Florida that allows employees to take their guns to work. The law would “prohibit business owners from banning guns kept locked in motor vehicles on their private property.”

The law has now been tested at Disneyworld and NPR provides an audio report on the issue.

Hole in Qantas aircraft

Qantas Airways has a reputation for safety. It’s aircraft have not fallen from the sky for over 50 years. This fact was brought to wide public attention in the movie RainMan and is a fact that most Australians take pride in.

Airlines do not promote themselves on the basis of their safety record principally because it is a high-risk strategy that can be ruined by just one crash.

In late-July 2008 Qantas Airways had a very lucky escape when, according to current reports, an oxygen cylinder exploded and tore a hole in the fuselage of a plan flying over South East Asia. Ben Sandilands in the Sunday Age rightly points out that lives were saved because the pilot was able to undertake an emergency landing at the nearby Manila airport.

In The Sunday Age 27 July 2008 (not available online), Sandilands pointed out that Qantas often flies on long routes over the sea such as Melbourne to Los Angeles, or over Antarctica on its Argentinean route. Had the fuselage damage occurred on one of these routes:

“The pilots would have been forced to choose between risking a potentially catastrophic mid-air break-up versus a crash landing or ditching.”

Qantas does not advertise on its safety record but its continuing success is partly attributed to that record. The avoidance of disaster from this recent episode is a combination of luck and good management. Qantas executives can do little about luck but it does need to maintain its good management and be seen to do so.

Relocating maintenance tasks to Malaysia may make sound economic sense, perhaps moreso in times of extremely high fuel prices, but national pride in a national airline should not be underestimated.

UPDATE

An exploding oxygen bottle is firming as the cause of the hole in the fuselage. However other issues are being raised as another Qantas plane had problems overnight. An undercarriage door would not close complete and Qantas flight needed to return to Adelaide. Passengers were understandable a little more concerned than usual.

Several of the articles referenced in this blog include complaints by passengers that oxygen masks failed to work or could not be fitted. Qantas has said that inspections of masks are included in maintenance schedules and it may be a significant factor that it seems to be an oxygen bottle that exploded however the Australian Transport Safety Bureau has asked for passengers to contact it if they had such problems.

Editorials are appearing in which the importance of safety to the longevity of an airline (as well as the passengers) is being emphasised. The Age newspaper on 29 July 2008 said that

An airline’s future is its good name. Qantas has for decades thrived on its reputation. Alan Joyce has the challenge before him to continue that tradition.

(Alan Joyce is the incoming chief executive officer.)

Presenteeism in the US

Presenteeism is when a worker attends work when they should not due to illness. Frequently ill workers attend the office or the factory because they feel that they are indispensable. This may be the case but they can then present health risks to others by communicating their flu or other disease to their colleagues. However, the worker is also impaired and may undertake work tasks or make decisions that put themselves at risk, a clear breach of their OHS obligations.

Presenteeism is an obvious overlap between OHS and Human Resources. Sick leave has an important role to play in managing a safe and healthy work environment.

A 28 July 2008 article on NPR reports on a poll about presenteeism. The US context is slightly different from Europe and Australia because paid sick leave is not a workplace entitlement although many workplaces provide health insurance.

I don’t agree with Marc Burgat, vice president of government relations for the California Chamber of Commerce who argues against the imposition of sick leave entitlements on employers.

Good managers have structured their workforces or production deadlines to accommodate levels of absence due to illness. Health absences should be an element considered in a risk management plan. Good employers can cope with sick workers and foster good relationship (a good workplace culture) by accommodating unavoidable human foibles.

Managers doing what they think the boss wants

The walkout from the Tasmanian Coronial inquest of the Beaconsfield Mine legal team has given the issues associated with the death of Larry Knight more media prominence than it would otherwise have received. The withdrawal also allows statements concerning the financial pressures on the mine to continue uncontested. An ABC podcast on the coronial inquest…

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Formaldehyde risks of temporary accommodation

There is continuing concern in the United States about the thousands of claims of health problems by survivors of Hurricane Katrina related to living in trailers provided to them by the government. (A 23 July 2008 podcast includes a mention of this issue but the relevant information is within the first 3 minutes) The problem is that residents were exposed to toxic levels of formaldehyde.

This may sound familiar to some Australian OHS professionals as similar claims were made over formaldehyde exposure in temporary housing for government workers who were participating in the Federal government’s indigenous intervention program. The ABC reported that the government investigation found

“department’s response to the complaints was slow and inappropriate given the seriousness of the health risk.”

An earlier report on this matter containing commitments to health and safety by the Minister is available HERE

The full report by Tony Blunn is available for download as is the relevant media statement by Jenny Macklin, the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.

Category: safety

Imperial Sugar explosion update

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Beaconsfield mine supervisor’s safety comments

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Would you fire someone who could fire back?

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Hole in Qantas aircraft

UPDATE

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Presenteeism in the US

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Managers doing what they think the boss wants

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Formaldehyde risks of temporary accommodation

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UPDATE

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