Texas truck washing company fined $160,000 after worker is killed in confined space

OSHA fined Enterprise Products Transportation Co. $160,000 and cited the company for 32 safety and health violations following a worker fatality at the facility's Freeport, Texas, tank wash operation. OSHA initiated an inspection after receiving a report that a worker had been found, unresponsive, inside a tank trailer that was being prepared to be washed. The employee was removed from the tank trailer by a coworker, but later died. Inspectors cited the company for serious violations for failing to provide the required respiratory protection in a confined space and for not ensuring that chemicals were safely stored.

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California fines pharmaceutical company more than $370,000 after one worker is killed and two others seriously injured

California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) issued 11 citations totaling $371,250 to Baxter Healthcare Corporation, doing business as Baxter Bioscience, for deliberate and willful workplace safety violations that resulted in the death of one of their technicians and serious injury of two others. On January 21, a 33-year-old Baxter technician collapsed when he entered a seven-foot-deep, 6,000 liter tank containing nitrogen gas. Air in the tank had been displaced by the nitrogen gas resulting in an oxygen deficient atmosphere. OSHA regulations require employers to have special protective procedures in place prior to employees entering these types of confined spaces. In this case, the employer had not tested the atmosphere prior to entrance to insure there was sufficient oxygen, which led to the technician's death. Cal/OSHA's investigation further revealed that when the technician was discovered, a supervisor ordered two other employees to enter the tank and retrieve him, without testing the atmosphere of the tank or providing proper equipment and other safeguards necessary for a safe rescue. As a result, the two other employees were seriously injured.

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Grain handling facility fined nearly $400,000 after worker is engulfed by corn

OSHA cited North Central Farmers Elevator in Ipswich, S.D., with six willful violations for exposing workers to the hazard of being engulfed by grain. Penalties total $378,000. OSHA began an investigation at the facility in October 2010 following an incident in which a worker was engulfed by corn in a grain bin. The violations relate to grain and confined spaces and demonstrate the failure to protect workers from engulfment hazards.
Since 2009, OSHA has issued fines exceeding $100,000 per employer to grain operators across the country following preventable engulfment fatalities and injuries in grain bins. In addition to enforcement actions, OSHA sent a notification letter in August 2010 and another in February 2011 to a total of more than 13,000 grain elevator operators warning them of proper safety precautions to prevent engulfments.

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