OSHA Inspection: FIRSTENERGY CORP. DBA FIRSTENERGY GENERATION CORP.

Issued

Dec 9, 2005

Abate by

Jan 11, 2006

Penalty

Initial $2,125 · Current $2,125

General-duty citation text

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970:  The
employer did not furnish employment
and a place of employment which were free from recognized hazards that
were causing or likely to cause
death or serious physical harm to employees in that condition assessments,
nondestructive examinations, and
tube replacements/repairs were not conducted on boiler tubes to minimize
the frequency of tube failures and
employee exposure to the hazards of steam:
a.On or about July 26, 2005, at the First Energy Corp., R.E. Burger Plant
site where unit 3, boiler 5
was being operated with 1 ID (induced draft) fan and 2 FD (forced draft)
fans, boiler tube #41
ruptured and washed out tube #40 in the furnace rear wall of the waterwall
creating an excessive
furnace pressure and releasing steam and/or hot gasses into work areas of
the plant, thereby causing
three contracted employees to receive severe burns.
Among other methods, feasible and acceptable abatement methods to correct
this hazard include, but
are not limited to, the following:
1.Develop a maintenance and equipment inspection program as referenced in
Section 4 of NFPA
85, Boiler and Combustion Systems Hazards Code.
2.Conduct a condition assessment and review of historical maintenance
records of boiler
components and auxiliaries including all boiler tubing such as the
steam-carrying tubes, water-
carrying tubes, and risers in accordance with Babcock & Wilcox, STEAM its
generation and
use, 40th EDITION, copyright 1992.
3.Perform nondestructive and/or destructive examinations of boiler tubing
to determine the
extent of erosion, corrosion, and any other damage in accordance with
Babcock & Wilcox,
STEAM its generation and use, 40th EDITION, copyright 1992.  Examples of
nondestructive
examinations include, but are not limited to, ultrasonic testing, eddy
current, and
electromagnetic acoustic transducer.
4.Based on condition assessments and examinations, develop a comprehensive
maintenance
program and schedule outages for conducting preventative maintenance,
testing, and
replacement/repair of boiler tubes to minimize tube and other component
failure in accordance
with Babcock & Wilcox, STEAM its generation and use, 40th EDITION,
copyright 1992.
5.Coordinate with EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute) and utilize
their "Boiler Life and
Availability Improvement Program" to develop tools and techniques to
conduct inspections,
evaluations, and testing based on the boiler's history and type of tube
failures.
6.Conduct an extended life study/health study and schedule outages on unit
3 as performed on
units 4 and 5 at First Energy Corp., R.E. Burger Plant.