OSHA Inspection: CUDD PRESSURE CONTROL, INC.

Issued

Aug 20, 2012

Abate by

Aug 30, 2012

Penalty

Initial $5,100 · Current $0 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.132(d)(1):   The employer shall assess the workplace to determine if hazards are present, or are likely to be present, which necessitate the use of personal protective equipment (PPE). If such hazards are present, or likely to be present, the employer shall:    29 CFR 1910.132(d)(1)(i):   Select, and have each affected employee use, the types of PPE that will protect the affected employee from the hazards identified in the hazard assessment;    The employer did not assess chemical hazards in the reactor activation process at KMTEX and select and provide affected employees PPE available to protect them from the hazards.

Issued

Aug 20, 2012

Abate by

Aug 30, 2012

Penalty

Initial $2,550 · Current $0 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.134(a)(2):     A respirator shall be provided to each employee when such equipment is necessary to protect the health of such employee. The employer shall provide the respirators which are applicable and suitable for the purpose intended. The employer shall be responsible for the establishment and maintenance of a respiratory protection program, which shall include the requirements outlined in paragraph (c) of this section. The program shall cover each employee required by this section to use a respirator.    On or around July 10, 2012 the employer (Cudd Industrial Nitrogen) did not provide employees with respiratory protection while they performed activation of isomerization reactors.

Issued

Aug 20, 2012

Abate by

Aug 30, 2012

Penalty

Initial $3,400 · Current $0 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.1200(d)(5)(iv):     If the chemical manufacturer, importer, or employer has evidence to indicate that a component present in the mixture in concentrations of less than one percent (or in the case of carcinogens, less than 0.1 percent) could be released in concentrations which would exceed an established OSHA permissible exposure limit or ACGIH Threshold Limit Value, or could present a health risk to employees in those concentrations, the mixture shall be assumed to present the same hazard.      On or around July 10, 2012 the employer did not treat the mixture of chemicals in the isomerization reactors as a hazard and exposed workers to a known carcinogen (identified in the MSDS) that could present a health risk to employees or exceed the OSHA permissible exposure limit during the activation of isomerization reactors process.

Issued

Aug 20, 2012

Abate by

Aug 30, 2012

Penalty

Initial $0 · Current $0

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.1200(e)(1)(ii):     The methods the employer will use to inform employees of the hazards of non-routine tasks (for example, the cleaning of reactor vessels), and the hazards associated with chemicals contained in unlabeled pipes in their work areas.      On or around July 10, 2012 the employer failed to implement its hazard communication program when it did not follow its own policy and did not communicate the hazards associated with chemicals in the KMTEX isomerization reactor activation process to its employees who were involved in the process.

Issued

Aug 20, 2012

Abate by

Aug 30, 2012

Penalty

Initial $0 · Current $0

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.1200(h)(1):     Employers shall provide employees with effective information and training on hazardous chemicals in their work area at the time of their initial assignment, and whenever a new physical or health hazard the employees have not previously been trained about is introduced into their work area. Information and training may be designed to cover categories of hazards (e.g., flammability, carcinogenicity) or specific chemicals. Chemical-specific information must always be available through labels and material safety data sheets.      The employer did not supply its employees onsite at the KMTEX facility with information and training on the chemicals they worked with during the reactor activation process and did not provide them material safety data sheets for the chemicals.

Issued

Aug 20, 2012

Abate by

Aug 30, 2012

Penalty

Initial $2,550 · Current $0 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.1200(g)(8):     The employer shall maintain in the workplace copies of the required material safety data sheets for each hazardous chemical, and shall ensure that they are readily accessible during each work shift to employees when they are in their work area(s). (Electronic access, microfiche, and other alternatives to maintaining paper copies of the material safety data sheets are permitted as long as no barriers to immediate employee access in each workplace are created by such options.)      Cudd did not make copies of required MSDS sheets available and readily accessible to its employees onsite at KMTEX.