OSHA Inspection: BLACKLIDGE EMULSIONS, INC.

Issued

2014-09-11 00:00:00

Abate by

2015-01-30 00:00:00

Penalty

Initial $4900.00 · Current $2940.00 Reduced

General-duty citation text

OSH ACT of 1970 Section (5)(a)(1): 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 fire/explosion hazards from heated asphalt:    For the facility at 2701 E. 2nd Ave., Tampa, FL 33605, an explosion occurred in an asphalt tank on 07/13/2014 and a fire occurred in an asphalt tank on 07/20/2014. The employer did not provide the following:    a) Written safety and operating procedures were not available for operational functions such as, but not limited to, specifying what the minimum level in the tanks need to be prior to heating, specifying the time it takes for the tanks to heat up (depending on parameters such as, but not limited to, the type of tank, number of burners ignited, the liquid level, the starting temperature... etc.), and specifying that the hatch doors on the horizontal tanks are to be kept closed to prevent the flow of oxygen into the tanks or an external ignition source.    b) Maintenance scheduling was not present to account for the frequent cleaning of the asphalt tanks so as to prevent the buildup of coke deposits inside of asphalt tanks that could result in fires.    c) The Asphalt storage/processing tanks were missing safety interlocks/automation such as, but not limited to, the following: there were no temperature controls on the tanks to ensure that the contents of the tanks would not become too hot, vaporize, and create a fire/explosion hazard.    d) Operators' stations contained liquid level gauges/indicators that were poorly labeled and promoted the possibility that an employee could easily read the wrong level gauge.

Issued

2014-09-11 00:00:00

Penalty

Initial $0.00 · Current $0.00

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.146(c)(2): The employer did not inform exposed employees, by posting danger signs or by any other equally effective means, of the existence and location of and the danger posed by the permit spaces:  a) For the facility at 2701 E. 2nd Ave., Tampa, FL 33605, as observed on or about 07/24/2014, horizontal asphalt emulsion tanks containing heated liquid asphalt and agitators were not posted as permit required confined spaces.

Issued

2014-09-11 00:00:00

Abate by

2014-10-16 00:00:00

Penalty

Initial $0.00 · Current $0.00

General-duty citation text

29 CFR 1910.147(c)(4)(i): Procedures were not developed, documented and utilized for the control of potentially hazardous energy when employees were engaged in activities covered by this section.  a) For the facility at 2701 E. 2nd Ave., Tampa, FL 33605, as observed on or about 08/22/2014, employees performed maintenance and/or repair on equipment such as, but not limited to, motors, gear boxes, agitators, mills, burners, heat traces, and pumps containing hazardous energy sources in the form of 120VAC, 240VAC, and 480VAC electricity, high temperature, and mechanical moving parts.