Explosion, flash fire, injure company owner, lead to OSHA inspection

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited Luna Tech Inc., and proposed penalties totaling $116,200 following a flash fire and explosion at the company's Cross Roads facility in Alabama. The explosion injured the company's owner, who received severe burns to his face and hands.

John Hall, OSHA's Birmingham area director, said OSHA has inspected the facility before, most recently in Sept. 1999 after an explosion killed one employee and hospitalized two others.

The present inspection began in response to a March 16 media report concerning a flash fire and explosion at the facility. The fire destroyed a small building and injured the company's owner.

Following an inspection of the facility after the accident, OSHA cited Luna Tech for two willful violations with proposed penalties of $56,000 each. The willful citations were issued for preparing an explosive dry powder mixture wearing inappropriate protective equipment and for having unapproved electrical equipment in a hazardous area where its use is prohibited.

Luna Tech's failure to perform a workplace hazard assessment resulted in one additional serious violation with a proposed penalty of $4,200.

"This company's own health and safety manual, as well as material safety data sheets from other sources, follow OSHA regulations and industry practice requiring employees to wear protective equipment when working with corrosive liquids or harmful chemicals," said Hall. "Yet, the owner chose to ignore those requirements."

Hall added, "There is no excuse for this employer's indifference to safety precautions. The screening process for mixing the dry chemicals is accomplished using an electrical shaker which, in this instance, was not officially approved as safe; the building's outlets and thermostat were also not approved for combustible dust operations, and finally, 11 of the 21 serious citations issued following our inspection last September related to the safe handling of chemical substances."

Luna Tech employs approximately 64 workers, 55 of whom are at the Owens Cross Roads location.

OSHA defines a willful violation as one committed with an intentional disregard of, or plain indifference to, the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and regulations. A serious violation is one in which there is a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result and that the employer knew or should have known of the hazard.

Edited by Sandy Smith
Managing Editor, Safety Online
E-mail: ssmith@verticalnet.com