OSHA Inspection: CARDOLITE CORPORATION

Issued

Aug 13, 2012

Abate by

Sep 24, 2012

Penalty

Initial $3,500 · Current $7,000

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.1048(c)(1): Employees were exposed to an airborne concentration of formaldehyde which exceeded 0.75 parts per million, as an 8-hour time weighted average:    (a) Building 2    A chemical operator adding paraformaldehyde prills to Unit 389 by vacuuming from a super sack was exposed to 1.2 parts per million (ppm) formaldehyde as an 8 hour Time Weighted Average, which was 1.6 times the Permissible Exposure Level of 0.75 ppm.  Zero exposure was assumed for the 77 minutes that were not sampled.    Violation occurred on or about 5/8/12.

Issued

Aug 13, 2012

Abate by

Sep 25, 2012

Penalty

Initial $0 · Current $0

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.1048(c)(2): Employees were exposed to an airborne concentration of formaldehyde which exceeded two parts per million as a 15-minute short term exposure limit (STEL):    (a) Building 2    A chemical operator adding paraformaldehyde prills to Unit 389 by vacuuming from a super sack was exposed to 11 parts per million (ppm) formaldehyde as a 15 minute Short Term Exposure Level (STEL), which was 5.5 times the Permissible Exposure Level of 2 ppm.    Violation occurred on or about 5/8/12.

Issued

Aug 13, 2012

Abate by

Sep 25, 2012

Penalty

Initial $0 · Current $0

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.1048(f)(1): Engineering controls and work practices were not instituted to reduce and maintain employee exposures to formaldehyde at or below the TWA and the STEL:    (a)Building 2    A chemical operator adding paraformaldehyde prills to Unit 389 by vacuuming from a super sack was exposed to 11 parts per million (ppm) formaldehyde as a 15 minute Short Term Exposure Level (STEL), which was 5.5 times the Permissible Exposure Level of 2 ppm and 1.2 ppm as an 8 hour Time Weighted Average, which was 1.6 times the Permissible Exposure Level of 0.75 ppm.  Effective engineering controls and work practices had not been implemented since initial determination of overexposure in 2007.    Violation occurred on or about 5/8/12.    Abatement Note:  Feasible abatement includes, but is not limited to,   a) a new local exhaust ventilation system  b) vacuuming supersack contents without completely splitting open the sack.

Issued

Aug 13, 2012

Penalty

Initial $3,500 · Current $7,000

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.1048(d)(3)(iii): When the last monitoring results revealed employee exposure at or above the STEL, the employer did not repeat monitoring of the employees at least once a year under worst conditions.    (a) Building 2    A chemical operator adding paraformaldehyde prills to reactor 389 was exposed to a Short Term Exposure Level (STEL) of formaldehyde of 320 ppm on 3/16/11, above the STEL of 2 ppm.  No further measurements of STEL were performed through 5/1/12, although 11 batches were made on 9 occasions.    Violation occurred on or about 5/1/12.

Issued

Aug 13, 2012

Abate by

Sep 25, 2012

Penalty

Initial $3,500 · Current $7,000

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.1048(l)(3): The employer did not make the medical surveillance required by 29 CFR 1910.1048(l)(3)(i) through 29 CFR 1910.1048(l)(3)(ii) available to employees prior to assignment to a job where employee exposure was at or above the action level or the short tem exposure limit and annually thereafter:    (a) Building 2    Chemical operators overexposed to formaldehyde while adding paraformaldehyde prills to Unit 389 were not provided annual medical surveillance.     Violation occurred on or about 5/8/12.

Issued

Aug 13, 2012

Abate by

Sep 25, 2012

Penalty

Initial $44,000 · Current $7,000 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.1048(d)(3)(ii): When the last monitoring results for formaldehyde revealed employee exposure at or above the action level, monitoring of employees was not repeated at least every 6 months:    (a)Building 2    A chemical operator adding paraformaldehyde prills to reactor 389 was exposed to an 8 hour Time Weighted Average of 12.4 parts per million (ppm) formaldehyde on 3/16/11, above the action level of 0.5 ppm.  When next monitored on 2/22/12, an interval of approximately 11 months, the operator was exposed to 10.3 and 12.5 ppm on concurrent samples.  Ten batches using paraformaldehyde were made in Unit 389 between 3/16/11 and 2/22/12.  The last employee exposure to formaldehyde before monitoring 2/22/12 was on 2/15/12.      Violation occurred on or about 2/15/12.