Occhealth Bulletin
16 November 2009
News Review - Nov 2009
Category: Reviews
OSHA issues record $87 million penalty to BP Products North America
Back in March 2005, a large explosion at the Isomerization Unit of the BP Products Texas City refinery (BPTCR) caused 15 fatalities and another 170 people to be injured. The petroleum refinery is the third largest in the US with over 1,200 permanent employees and hundreds more associate contractors. Following the explosion, OSHA conducted health and safety inspections that resulted in issuing BPTCR citations and fines of over $21 million. In the same year a settlement agreement was signed between OSHA and BPTCR outlining a number of requirements including i) a comprehensive review by an independent auditor of the refinery’s Process Safety Management Program ii) implementation of all feasible recommendations by the auditor iii) other abatement actions such as conducting audits and iv) the determination of the adequacy of pressure relief for individual pieces of equipment. OSHA launched a comprehensive monitoring inspection of BPTCR in May-October 2009 which resulted in alleged violations and proposed penalties. BPTCR had failed to correct citations (270 instances) as documented in the 2005 Agreement and new violations (439 willful per-instance citations). OSHA therefore proposed fines of $87,430,000 – the largest ever accessed by OSHA. Click here for full details about this story in OSHA’s “Factsheet on BP 2009 Monitoring Inspection”.
Exposure to certain chemicals can also cause hearing loss
In their Health and Safety Report (volume 7, issue 10), the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) has recently highlighted the issue of work-related hearing loss as a result of exposure to ototoxins (chemicals that damage hearing or cause hearing loss). 30 million workers are exposed to hazardous noise at work; NIOSH also estimates that as many as 9 million workers are at risk of hearing loss from ototoxic agents. Organic solvents, metals and chemical asphyxiants that are regularly used in industries such the construction, shipbuilding and plastics manufacture industries often have ototoxic properties. Examples include benzene, carbon monoxide, toluene and xylene. The damaging effects of ototoxins are often more severe in combination with hazardous noise exposure. However, there is great difficulty in being able to detect the individual effects of chemicals on hearing loss as chemicals are frequently used in mixtures and the worker exposed to noise simultaneously. CCOHS suggests a number of ways in which an employer can take steps to protect their workers including:
- undertaking hazard assessments as the first step in a comprehensive hearing conservation program (HCP)
- the removal of the source of hazardous exposures and replacement of ototoxins with less hazardous chemicals where possible
- the inclusion of workers in an HCP even if they are exposed to lower levels of noise than as outlined in the current legislation
- reduction of noise levels thru engineering or administrative controls
- reduction of exposure hazards by providing workers with adequate process changes, ventilation systems or personal protective equipment (hearing protection)
For more information about noise-induced hearing loss, take a look at the Examinetics, Inc. Pathfinder on the subject.