OSHA Inspection: EMERY OLEOCHEMICALS LLC

Issued

Aug 9, 2023

Abate by

Nov 28, 2023

Penalty

Initial $15,625 · Current $7,813 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR  1910.119(e)(3)(iii): Engineering and administrative controls applicable to the hazards and their interrelationships such as appropriate application of detection methodologies to provide early warning of releases. (Acceptable detection methods might include process monitoring and control instrumentation with alarms, and detection hardware such as hydrocarbon sensors.)  (a) On or about March 6, 2023, the employer's Continuous Hydrogenation (CH) process did not address hazards related to the lack of engineering and administrative controls, whereby chemical operators would not have to manually go to the K-1A compressor to manually shut down the compressor, exposing employees to a hydrogen explosion at the source.

Issued

Aug 9, 2023

Abate by

Nov 28, 2023

Penalty

Initial $0 · Current $0

General-duty citation text

29 CFR  1910.119(e)(3)(vi):  The process hazard analysis (PHA) shall address human factors.    (a) On or about March 6, 2023, the employer's Continuous Hydrogenation (CH) process did not adequately address hazards related to human factors due to chemical operators having to manually go to the K-1A compressor to manually shut down the compressor, exposing employees to a hydrogen explosion at the source.

Issued

Aug 9, 2023

Abate by

Sep 26, 2023

Penalty

Initial $15,625 · Current $7,813 Reduced

General-duty citation text

29 CFR  1910.119(l)(2)(ii):  The procedures shall assure that the following considerations are addressed prior to any change the impact of change on safety and health.  (a)  On or about March 6, 2023, no management of change (MOC) had been done prior to the explosion to ensure that the existing plastic curtain strips located in the Bldg. 81 compressor room west doorway that melted during the incident, were not static dissipative and did not contribute to the hydrogen explosion.

Issued

Aug 9, 2023

Abate by

Sep 26, 2023

Penalty

Initial $73,047 · Current $15,625 Reduced

General-duty citation text

1910.119(f)(1)(i)(G)  Startup following a turnaround, or after an emergency shutdown. 29 CFR  1910.119(f)(1)(i)(B):   The employer's written operating procedures did not include steps for normal operations.  (a) On or about March 3, 2023, the employer's written operating procedures CH SOP-07 Starting and Switching Compressors for the Bldg. 81 compressor room was inadequate in that when the south compressor K-1A was put into use, the procedures did not include checking to be sure that on the discharge line the drain valves on the compressor chambers were closed and the blind flange applied and securely bolted in place to prevent hydrogen release from the process.   On March 6, 2023, hydrogen leaked through an open globe drain valve and a loosely bolted blind flange on the discharge line of compressor K-1A causing an explosion.  Emery Oleochemicals LLC was previously cited for a violation of this occupational safety and health standard or its equivalent standard 29 CFR 1910.119(f)(1)(i)(B), which was contained in OSHA inspection number 1322182, citation number 1, item number 2, was affirmed as a final order on 11/27/2018, with respect to a workplace located at 4900 Este Avenue, Cincinnati, OH.