House Letter States OSHA Could Have Prevented T2 Blast

Jan. 15, 2008
In a Jan. 11 letter to OSHA Administrator Edwin Foulke Jr., House legislators stressed the fatal explosion at T2 Laboratories in Jacksonville, Fla., could have been prevented had OSHA enforced stronger refinery and chemical safety rules.

The Chemical Safety Hazard and Investigation Board (CSB) said the Jan. 3 blast, which killed four workers and injured a dozen others, was caused by “an out of control chemical reaction.” California Democrat Reps. George Miller and Lynn Woolsey stated that modifying OSHA’s Process Safety Management Standard (1910.119) in accordance with CSB’s suggestions would “most likely have covered the reactive process at T2 Laboratories and compliance with that modified standard might have prevented the fatal explosion.”

In 2002, CSB conducted a major study of reactive hazards and identified 167 serious reactive chemical accidents in the United States over a 20-year period. The board concluded that the incidents were “a significant chemical safety problem” and that OSHA’s standard has “significant gaps in coverage of reactive hazards because it was based on a limited list of individual chemicals with inherently reactive properties.”

Woolsey and Miller chastised the agency for not heeding CSB’s recommendations and instead focusing more on compliance assistance and voluntary efforts.

“Other workers’ live remain at risk,” the legislators wrote. “Because of the uncontrolled hazards of reactive chemicals, revising the Process Safety Chemical Standard to cover reactive hazards should be a high priority for OSHA.”

The issue of improving this standard was raised long before the 2002 CSB study. According to Miller and Woolsey, five national unions in 1995 petitioned OSHA for a revision of the standard following an explosion and a fire at a chemical plant in Lodi, N.J. Although the agency issued an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for reactive hazards on its regulatory agenda in 1998, OSHA later withdrew it because of “resource constraints and other priorities.”

OSHA spokesperson Sharon Worthy told OccupationalHazards.com that Foulke and other officials are in the process of reviewing the letter and could not respond until they have done so thoroughly.

For more details about the T2 Laboratories explosion, read CSB Investigates Deadly Florida Blast and Overheated Reactor to Blame for Florida Explosion, CSB Says.

Sponsored Recommendations

Committing to Safety: Why Leadership’s Role in Safety Excellence is Key

Jan. 13, 2025
Leadership has the power to transform an organization through their behavior and vision, which can result in the creation of an organizational culturethat supports safety excellence...

Speak Up! Cementing "See Something, Say Something" to Drive Safety

Jan. 13, 2025
Many organizations promote "see something, say something" to encourage their people to intervene and make work safe. But most don't go far enough to equip teams with the skills...

The Truth and Challenges of Cultivating Chronic Unease

Jan. 13, 2025
DEKRA announces its latest white paper, “The Truth and Challenges of Cultivating Chronic Unease,” as a definitive look into why being vulnerable to incidents strengthens our commitment...

Mitigating Risks: Strategies for Safeguarding Workers in Hazardous Workplaces

Jan. 13, 2025
Join our expert team in taking on the challenge to make safety part of your organization’s DNA as work, the workforce, and workplaces evolve.

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of EHS Today, create an account today!