Glass-Reinforced Plastic Production Process $90K OSHA Fine

OSHA's inspection found that combustible particulate solids, which were generated during trimming and repair operations, were not collected into an adequately designed dust collection system, were allowed to accumulate on machinery and surfaces, and were not adequately cleaned up to prevent such buildup.

via osha.gov

Housekeeping appears to be the major issue with this recent OSHA citation for combustible dust fire and explosion hazards at a Pawcatuck, Connecticut plant. Reviewing a MSDS sheet for glass-reinforced plastics (GRP) highlights that GRP is a compound based upon a mix of glass fibre in a polyester and styrene resin based mix.

The fire hazards of GRP arise when combustible dust from machining and fabrication operations of combustible particulate solids may be explosive if mixed with air in critical proportions in the presence of an ignition source. Additionally, during storage and handling the dust generated during normal manufacturing operations can represent both a health hazard and a fire hazard. Most importantly as the OSHA news release informs stakeholders to use dust control equipment at the point of generation in machining and sawing operations.

An often overlooked potential ignition source are powered industrial trucks where combustible dust mentioned in this news release was exposed to several potential ignition sources, including an LP gas-powered industrial truck. What class of forklift are you using at your facility? Is it rated for use in potentially explosive atmospheres? The recent status report on the OSHA Combustible Dust NEP emphasized that combustible dust citations for powered industrial trucks was the third most cited violation after hazardous communication and housekeeping violations.

The 5th Annual Industrial Fire, Safety, and Security Conference (IFSS) in Houston, Texas will be hosting a Full-Day Combustible Dust Workshop on February 2, 2010, which will provide information assisting stakeholders in addressing potential combustible dust ignition sources. During one segment of the workshop, guest speaker Robert Zuiderveld, General Manager of Business Development Americas from Pyroban Corp. will share with attendees specific information on the operation of powered industrial trucks in combustible dust. work environments. Information throughout the full day workshop will assist stakeholders in operating and maintaining a safe workplace in addition to achieving OSHA regulatory compliance.

Good housekeeping is a major issue at facilities with the generation of combustible dust from combustible particulate solids. Many facility managers and owners are not aware of the proper methods in cleaning up the dust. You just can't take a compressed air hose and start blowing down the area nor sweeping while unaware of the dust clouds that can be generated, which provide an explosive atmosphere similar to a flammable vapor cloud. Potential ignition sources in the process are inherent at many facilities. The safe and approved alternative is the use of an explosive-proof rated vacuum cleaner.

Guest speaker Bruce Gordon, Senior District Manager, from Nilfisk CFM will speak in the afternoon at the Combustible Dust workshop on "Proper Housekeeping and Explosion-Proof Vacuums Hazardous Locations" concerning good housekeeping that will minimize the likelihood of a combustible dust related fire or explosion in addition to achieving regulatory compliance. OSHA combustible dust citations are costly yet a catastrophic secondary dust explosion leveling the facility can be even more of problem. Do you know about the combustible dust hazards at your facility?

Resources
Glass-Reinforced Plastics (GRP)

Combustible Dust Hazards Workshop-IFSS 2010-Houston

Combustible Dust Pre-Conference Workshop at the 5th Annual Industrial Fire, Safety, and Security Conference-IFSS 2010 upstairs in the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston, Texas, February 2 2010 from 8:00 AM- 5:00 P.M. (Lunch Included) Topics will introduce attendees to the hazards of combustible dust fires and explosions in the manufacturing, non-manufacturing, and utility sectors. Stakeholders will acquire important information, which they can utilize in identifying, evaluating, and controlling combustible dust hazards. The educational workshop will assist stakeholders in minimizing and preventing combustible dust incidents in addition to achieving OSHA regulatory compliance.

Currently a situational awareness is lacking nationwide that combustible dust poses a potentially explosive atmosphere the same as flammable gases, vapors, and mists. Are you aware of the dust hazards at your facility, which can result in OSHA citations?

Guests speakers: Tim Anderson, Owner, All Feed Processing and Packaging Inc "Regulatory Compliance Small Business Perspective"

Robert Zuiderveld, General Manager, Pyroban Corporation "Powered Industrial Equipment Operation in Potentially Explosion Hazardous Locations"

Bruce Gordon, Senior District Manager, Nilfisk , "Proper Housekeeping and Explosion-Proof Vacuums Hazardous Locations"

WHO ATTENDS IFSS Workshops and Seminars?

Attendees from across the United States converge at IFSS every year to meet with their peers - industrial emergency response and security leaders throughout the industrial and energy marketplace.

INDUSTRIAL FIRE, SAFETY & SECURITY Attendees Include:

FEDERAL/STATE/MUNICIPAL

* Regulatory Agencies
* Emergency Management Departments
* LEPC's - Local Emergency Planning Committees
* Municipal Fire Districts - Mutual Aid

OPERATORS/INDUSTRY

* Oil & Gas Exploration & Production
* Refineries
* Petrochemical/Chemical Facilities
* Pipelines
* Terminals/Storage Facilities
* Power Plants
* LNG Facilities
* Process Industries
* Transportation/Shipping/Rail
* Emergency Response Teams
* Industrial Fire Brigades
* Security

Resources
ComDust Workshop Details
Registration

Forklift Operations in Potentially Explosive Atmospeheres

I'd like to share this post that was authored by Robert Zuiderveld, General Manager at Pyroban Corp in the ComDust discussion group.

The recent Forkliftaction.com article by contributing editor Tom Andel,"Keeping forklifts out of explosive situations," clearly illustrates that the majority of stakeholders do not understand the complexities involved in or consequences resulting from operating non- compliant powered industrial equipment in potentially explosion hazardous areas. Even though I appreciate the attention the article is putting on the issues at hand I am concerned with some in the information and statements published in the article.

CAL-OSHA
According to the OSHA IMIS citation and violation data, CAL-OSHA has not written a single OSHA 1910.178. C01 or C02 citation between Jan 1, 2003 and the present. Yet according to the NFIRS data approximately 432 fires were started by powered industrial equipment in California between 2003 and 2007.

As a matter of fact OSHA regions 9 and 10 (entire West Coast region) experienced approximately 600 and 742 fires respectively (according to the NFIRS), while only one (1) OSHA 1910.178. C01 citation was written (Nevada in 2003) between Jan 1, 2003 and the present in both regions.

I can only wonder why CAL-OSHA publishes an article about equipment fire and explosion safety while they appear to have completely ignored enforcement of the issue for at least 6 years?

Lack of Ex Hazard Awareness
I also have to question these statements:

“The problem is it’s not easy or cheap to find replacements,” he says. “For example, an electric forklift designed for heavy use in an outdoor location is not easy to come by. A number of my clients are concerned because they’ve been cited for having unapproved forklifts in their outdoor locations. We’re not sure what the fix is but we know it will be pretty expensive. You can’t use gasoline fired engines because of the various ignition sources. Now they’re coming after diesel.”

Availability of equipment:
The industry offers EX solution for diesel and electric powered trucks which are compliant with ATEX codes and regulation and can and may be safely operated in US facilities handling flammable materials. They are pretty easy to find for anybody with access to a computer, the Internet and the ability to type in “explosion proof forklift truck” in a Google, Yahoo or Bing search engine.

Cost of the equipment:
Yes, explosion protected equipment is more expensive than conventional equipment types. However when you compare their price to the cost involved in injuries, fatalities or adverse economic effects after an fire or explosions incident, there really is not that much money difference. Besides that it appears that litigious nature of society is eager to put a price on a human life, so I would like to challenge anyone to come up with putting a cost on a human life which lower than the cost of an EX forklift truck.

Equipment approvals:
It is true that UL approved EX diesel equipment is hard to find, for that matter none existent. This is due to the fact that UL never develop HAZLOC codes, regulations, construction specification or testing procedures for IC powered industrial equipment used in explosion hazardous areas.

ATEX ATmosphères EXplosibles
OSHA however has not objected to the use of ATEX compliant conversion in explosion hazardous areas in US as long as it passes a hazardous equivalency test and evidence of certification can be provided. OSHA has not cited companies using internationally certified EX equipment because of two little know OSHA enforcement facts:

1. OSHA has the “burden of proof” that equipment is unsafe
2. OSHA will allow the use of international certified equipment if not US certified alternative exists

ATEX certified solutions are available to industry and they meet both criteria, especially when it comes to diesel powered explosion proof equipment.

OSHA Powered Industrial Trucks
And these equipment type suitability/approval claims:

“OSHA’s diesel designations include DS (with safeguards to the exhaust, fuel and electrical systems) and DY (with all the safeguards of DS units plus temperature limitation features). The only forklifts approved for Division 1 hazardous locations are electric-powered, designated EX (with safeguards for use in atmospheres containing flammable vapors or dusts). DS, DY, EE (enclosed electrical equipment) and EX are approved for Division 2.”

Crucial Mistake
Unfortunately OSHA is making a commonly made crucial mistake by implying the suitability of UL approved DS, DY and EE equipment types for use in explosion hazardous areas. UL does not test, certify or approve the use of these equipment types for use in explosion hazardous areas. If equipment is tested and certified for hazardous areas, the appropriate hazardous area classification will be shown on the ID tag of the equipment. If contact your equipment OEM or UL for a written statement of the hazardous area suitability of the of DS, DY and EE type you will be able to quickly verify this info.

Authority Having Jurisdiction:
Keep in mind Lawyers are not listed in the NEC/NFPA standards as an Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) and their technical judgment of equipment suitability or code interpretation is completely irrelevant.

More interesting to the law factor is the actual US product law:

S.3014
To amend title 18 of the United States Code to penalize the knowing and reckless introduction of a defective product into interstate commerce. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

September 7, 2000
Mr. SPECTER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

A BILL To amend title 18 of the United States Code to penalize the knowing and reckless introduction of a defective product into interstate commerce. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled.

SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS.
(a) A 'defective' product is one with a flaw in design, manufacture, assembly, or instruction which renders the product dangerous to human life and limb beyond the reasonable and accepted risk associated with such or similar products lacking such a flaw.

(b) To 'introduce' a product into the stream of interstate commerce is to manufacture, assemble, import, sell, or otherwise produce or transfer the product in question.

(c) 'Person' means the employees of any corporation, company, association, firm,
partnership, or other business entity.

(d) 'Serious bodily injury' means bodily injury which involves--
(1) a substantial risk of death;
(2) extreme physical pain; or
(3) protected or impairment of the function of a bodily member, organ, or mental faculty.

SEC. 2. ENACTMENTS.
(a) A person who in gross deviation from a reasonable standard of care introduces into interstate commerce a product known by that person to be defective which causes the death of any individual shall be guilty of murder in the second degree and shall be imprisoned for a term of up to fifteen years.

(b) A person who in gross deviation from a reasonable standard of care introduces into interstate commerce a defective product which causes serious bodily injury to any individual shall be imprisoned for a term of up to 5 years.

Post By: Robert Zuiderveld

Resources:

OSHA Powered industrial trucks. - 1910.178

NFPA 505: Fire Safety Standard for Powered Industrial Trucks

Contact Info
Robert Zuiderveld-General Manager at Pyroban Corp.

T: +1-973-748-0760
F: +1-973-842-0508
E: salesusa@pyroban.com

Wanna play the OSHA 191.178 C02 lottery?

I'd like to share this post that was authored by Robert Zuiderveld, General Manager at Pyroban Corp in the ComDust discussion group. It is an interesting and informative post as it provides insight regarding equipment protection levels of powered industrial trucks and equipment type’s suitability in a potentially combustible dust explosive atmosphere. OSHA PIT 1910.178 violations where third most cited violation according to the recent OSHA status report of the Dust NEP program

Robert Zuiderveld analyzed OHSA citations given for OSHA 1910.178 C02 violations for powered industrial trucks (use of improper equipment types in explosion hazardous areas) between 2003 and 2008.

2003 - 10 citations
2004 -18 citations
2005 -14 citations
2006 -16 citations
2007 -18 citations
2008 -31 citations

Units Sold

During that same time the following estimated number of “rated” forklift trucks (“S”, EE & DY types) were sold based on a 2% market share of total trucks sold (figure agreed upon by forklift OEMs)

2003 - approx. 2800 ES, EE, LPS, DS, DY units sold
2004 - approx. 3300, ES, EE, LPS, DS, DY units sold
2005 - approx. 3600, ES, EE, LPS, DS, DY units sold
2006 - approx. 3800, ES, EE, LPS, DS, DY units sold
2007 - approx. 3500, ES, EE, LPS, DS, DY units sold
2008 - approx. 3000, ES, EE, LPS, DS, DY units sold

Fires

According to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) during this same time period the following number of fires were ignited by forklift trucks and loader:

2003 – 532 fires (+/- 2233 fires if you incl. construction equipment, cranes and misc ind. equipment)
2004 - 572 fires (+/- 2469 fires if you incl. construction equipment, cranes and misc ind. equipment)
2005 - 657 fires (+/- 2795 fires if you incl. construction equipment, cranes and misc ind. equipment)
2006 -686 fires(+/- 2982 fires if you incl. construction equipment, cranes and misc ind. equipment)
2007 -795 fires (+/- 3149 fires if you incl. construction equipment, cranes and misc ind. equipment)
2008 –not available yet

Equipment Protection Levels

Based on this data, it appears that OSHA inspectors may lack the ability to recognize equipment protection levels and equipment type’s suitability allowing the use of equipment types which are not tested, certified or suitable for use in the Class I and Class II explosion hazardous areas.

Additionally it appears that OSHA enforcement and fines are inconsistent. Citations for 1910.178 C02 are none existent or far and few between in some of the states with the highest number of forklift fires. http://www.pyroban.us/NFIRS-data.htm

If you are located in CA for example you have nothing to worry about. CAL-OSHA appears to be too busy with CARB to address equipment fire safety issues.

Fines have been relatively low ($250 – $2500), unless you have an incident that arouses OSHA scrutiny. Then things get really ugly really quick.

Imperial Sugar $350,000.00
All-feed $35,000.00

Off course if you are an oil refinery a different set of rules appear to apply, since BP Texas City nor Calumet, Shreveport were cited for using unprotected industrial equipment, even though a pickup truck and a vacuum truck were responsible for igniting those explosions.

Many more examples, mostly not cited by OSHA, can be found on our site at:
http://www.pyroban.us/Information_incidentCosts.htm

Why the double standard....only OSHA knows

With 45,000 Dust facilities to inspect (for some unknown reason these industries with known dust fire hazards were not included in the OSHA NEP SIC lists: paper related industries, ethanol plants, Cotton farms) and probably a similar number of companies handling Class I flammable materials. OSHA has its work cut out for them and your chances of getting audited may be similar to your chance of winning the lottery.

Note:

Thanks Robert for the valuable insight. Fantastic job on the excellent research and sharing with others

Contact Info
Robert Zuiderveld-General Manager at Pyroban Corp.

T: +1-973-748-0760
F: +1-973-842-0508
E: salesusa@pyroban.com

Authority Having Jurisdiction-ComDust Explosive Atmospheres

I'd like to share this post that was authored by Robert Zuiderveld, General Manager at Pyroban Corp in the ComDust discussion group. It is an interesting and informative post as it provides insight regarding AHJ approval of powered industrial truck in a potentially combustible dust explosive atmosphere.OSHA PIT 1910.178 violations where third most cited violation according to the recent OSHA status report of the Dust NEP program

John called me and asked, " if getting a letter from a AHJ other than OSHA stating that the use of "S" type equipment in 1910.178 - Powered industrial trucks. 1910.178(c) Designated locations, Dust hazardous areas is OK and would satisfy OSHA regulatory requirements?"

NFPA 70 (aka NEC):
I always go back to this document since it is one of the few that get regularly updated and actually offers good answers to many questions in article 500:

Page 70-360 paragraph 500.8(A) states: Suitability of identified equipment shall be determined by one of the following:

(1) Equipment listing or labeling
(2) Evidence of equipment evaluation from a qualified testing laboratory or inspection agency concerned with product evaluation (RZ note: NOT necessarily and NRTL).
(3) Evidence acceptable to the authority having jurisdiction such as a manufacturer’s self evaluation or an owners engineering judgment.

Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ).
An organization, office, or individual responsible for enforcing the requirements of a code or standard, or for approving equipment, materials, an installation, or a procedure.

FPN: The phrase "authority having jurisdiction," or its acronym AHJ, is used in NFPA documents in a broad manner, since jurisdictions and approval agencies vary, as do their responsibilities. Where public safety is primary, the authority having jurisdiction may be a federal, state, local, or other regional department or individual such as a fire chief; fire marshal; chief of a fire prevention bureau, labor department, or health department: building official; electrical inspector; or others having statutory authority.

For insurance purposes, an insurance inspection department, rating bureau, or other insurance company representative may be the authority having jurisdiction. In many circumstances, the property owner or his or her designated agent assumes the role of the authority having jurisdiction; at government installations, the commanding officer or departmental official may be the authority having jurisdiction.

At the end of the day the burden of proof that equipment is unsafe rests on OSHA shoulders. You can get a letter from the Pope, but if OSHA can easily prove that your practices endanger the welfare of your employees then you are in violation. If they take you to court, and evidence is so obvious that they are right, you are out of even more money. This is the case with using any UL approved “S” type in any explosion hazardous areas. It is not a question if it is going to happen, more a question of when?

If you don’t wear a seat belt while driving a car, you will be fine until you get into an accident. If you use UL approved "S" type equipment in explosion hazardous areas you will most likely start a fire or blow yourself when an accidental release takes place.

It is possible to challenge a OSHA judgment, but you must be able to substantiate your claims and provide evidence. Historic fact is not a solid defense in the age of IT. -Robert Zuiderveld

John's Note:
Robert is referring to type S equipment, in NFPA 505, which you'll find in the top row of Table 4.2 Summary Table on Use of Powered Industrial Trucks.

In row 13, For Class II Division 2 Group G, you'll notice 11 different types of equipment that are listed, seven which require AHJ approval. But thats the problem, these haven't be certified for explosive atmosphere. Only EX is certified for explosive atmosphere by UL.

Contact Info
Robert Zuiderveld-General Manager at Pyroban Corp.

T: +1-973-748-0760
F: +1-973-842-0508
E: salesusa@pyroban.com

Resources,
Ignition source protection gaps
UL Letter- Explosive Atmospheres Certification
NFPA 505 Powered Industrial Trucks