OSHA Inspection: CONSOLIDATED EDISON CO. OF N.Y. INC.

Issued

Feb 2, 1990

Abate by

Apr 29, 1992

Penalty

Initial $1,000 · Current $1,000

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 employees were exposed to:
The hazard of being struck by escaping steam and other debris as a
result of failures in the steam system, on or about 8/19/89, which
could result in scalding, burns, serious injury or death.
Location: East 20th Street & 3rd Avenue
New York, NY 10003
Among other methods, one feasible and acceptable method to abate this
hazard is to:
Establish a comprehensive and effective maintenance program of the steam
system meeting the following criteria: A) a basline survey of entire
system to establish current condition of system to establish a service
schedule for any part of the system in need of maintenance, repair or
replacement, (B) conduct periodic inspection of entire system which will
include at a minimum: (i) visual inspection of all accessible components
(ii) pysical operation of all moving parts, including but not limited to
main valves, bypass valves, trap valves, blow-off valves, and (iii)
timely service to clean/repair/replace parts/components tested during
inspections, (C) allocation of resources to effectively accomplish this
program, and (D) written records to track maintenance program.

Issued

Feb 2, 1990

Abate by

May 29, 1991

Penalty

Initial $10,000 · Current $7,000 Reduced

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 employees were exposed to:
The hazard of being struck by steam and debris escaping from ruptured
line(s) due to a "water hammer", a condition resulting from excessive
condensate in the steam lines, on or about 8/19/89, which could result
in scalding, burns, serious injury or death.
Location: East 20th Street & 3rd Avenue
New York, NY 10003
Among other methods, one feasible and acceptable method to correct this
hazard is to drain all steam piping of any condensate that may have
collected in low points behind closed valves.
To ensure that all lines are drained, the following steps must be
initiated:
a) Provide complete operating procedures for personnel to follow
whenever they are engaged in a turn-off or turn-on procedure, which
should include, but not limited to, the following elements:1) order
of valves to be turned off/on, 2) steps to take whenever a main valve
is turned off/on, i.e. open/close bypasses, open/close blow-offs, and
open/close traps, 3) steps to take whenever a valve is found to be in
disrepair, especially if it hinders drainage of condensate,
4) emergency response procedures, 5) special instruction, 6) persons
to notify, 7) paperwork to be completed.
b) provide comprehensive training to steam employees from the
superintendent down to the general utility worker which addresses:
1) the basics of the steam system itself, 2) recognition of the
hazard of condensate in the steam line,
3) what conditions create this hazard, both normal conditions and
abnormal conditions such as accelerated condensation due to cold
water flowing over the steam line, 4) what steps are required to
assure that the lines are safely drained of condensate and 5) what
actions are required when blocked/inoperative blow-off valves or any
other steam system components are encountered.