On the afternoon of June 9, 2009, 3 workers were fatally injured and dozens of others were injured when an explosion occurred at the ConAgra Foods facility in Garner, North Carolina.  

Tomorrow, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board will get a chance to do something that most of us — and certainly most government agencies — aren’t very good at  … admit it was wrong.

At least that’s what industrial safety and worker protection advocates are hoping CSB members do when they reconsider urgent safety recommendations from its own staff to address major problems uncovered in the investigation of last June’s explosion and ammonia release that killed 3 workers at a ConAgra Foods Slim Jim facility in North Carolina.

Tomorrow night, the CSB is scheduled to release its preliminary report and hear testimony on the ConAgra incident. And, the board’s news release announcing the event adds:

Following a public comment period, the Board is expected to consider draft staff recommendations for changes to the National Fuel Gas Code, which establishes gas purging practices followed across the country.

The disaster at ConAgra occurred during the commissioning of a new, gas-fired industrial water heater at the plan, when natural gas was purged into the interior of the building. The gas accumulated to an explosive concentration and ignited.

Previously, we’ve discussed (thanks to the great reporting of Mike Baker of The Associated Press) how the CSB rejected a strong recommendation from its own expert staff investigators that the board immediately distribute a safety bulletin and recommendations urging more ccontrols on how workers handle the purging of gas lines.

The CSB did issue a “safety bulletin” urging companies, gas installers and contractors to follow safe practices during gas purging operations, including venting purged gases outdoors whenever practicable. But, the board did not — as its staff had urged — recommend actual changes to safety standards for this kind of work.

Now, apparently the board is going to revisit the issue. Chairman John Bresland said:

This was a serious accident which claimed the lives of four workers, injured scored of others, and resulted in hundreds of job losses. The goal of the CSB investigation is to recommend measures that will help prevent other devastating accidents during gas purging operations.

Updated: With this link to the two urgent safety recommendations  the CSB is considering.

Of course, the board hasn’t approved any recommendations yet … so workplace safety advocates are being cautions.  Evan Yeats of the United Food and Commercial Workers union, which represents employees at the ConAgra plant, told me today:

We think this is a step in the right direction for the CSB.

But, Yeats added, the recommendations being considered by the board don’t go as far as the UFCW would like:

We think indoor gas purging is a mistake, and a deadly mistake. But just the fact that the CSB is willing to revisit this and admit they were wrong is a good sign. But we still have concerns about the board, its direction and its leadership.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 3, 2010 at 2:24 pm and is filed under Chemical industry, Worker safety. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.