A U.S. Chemical Safety Board depiction of the fire at Xcel Energy’s hydroelectric plant in Georgetown, Colo.

On the heels of challenging the federal Department of Labor over its failure to ban the deadly practice of gas venting, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board this week had more harsh words for labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Yesterday, the CSB called on OSHA to reform a weak and vague standard that the board’s investigators concluded does not protect America’s workers from the potentially deadly dangers of working with flammable materials inside confined spaces.

The CSB recommendation came as part of the board’s final report on the Oct. 2, 2007 fire that killed five painting contractors at Xcel Energy’s Cabin Creek hydroelectric plant outside Denver, Colo.

CSB investigators described the terrible incident this way:

The accident occurred in the water tunnel, or penstock, of the hydroelectric plant, located 45 miles west of Denver. The penstock carries water from an upper reservoir to a lower one, driving power turbines. The painting contractors, from RPI Coating, Inc., were recoating a 1,530-foot steel portion of the 4,300-foot penstock when a flash fire suddenly erupted as the vapor from flammable solvent, used to clean the epoxy spraying wands, ignited, probably from a static spark in the vicinity of the spraying machine. The initial fire quickly grew, igniting additional buckets of the solvent, methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), and other combustible epoxy materials stored nearby.

And according to the board’s press release:

The CSB concluded the causes of the accident included (1) a lack of planning and training for hazardous work by Xcel and its contractor, RPI Coating, Inc., (2) Xcel’s selection of RPI despite its h aving the lowest possible safety rating (zero) among competing contractors, and (3) allowing volatile flammable liquids to be introduced into a permit-required confined space without necessary special precautions.

CSB officials released a haunting video that shows what happened:

Don Holmstrom, right, Investigations Supervisor with the U.S. Chemical Board, speaks at a news conference in Denver on Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2010, about how Xcel Energy Inc. and its contractor, RPI Coatings Inc., failed to adequately plan for hazardous work that included taking flammable solvents inside a 4,300-foot tunnel during a cleaning operation at a Xcel Energy hydroelectric plant tunnel near Georgetown, Colo., on October 2, 2007. Five workers were killed in a fire while cleaning the tunnel. CSB board member William Wark is pictured at left.

Parts of this story are just heartbreaking:

The CSB found that Xcel and RPI failed to have technically-qualified confined space rescue crews immediately standing by at the penstock in case of emergency, as required by regulations. Workers called 911 for help but responders entering the penstock had to retreat in the thick smoke, as did workers who had approached the fire with extinguishers.

The closest confined space technical rescue unit – equipped and trained to enter the smoke-filled tunnel – was approximately one hour and 15 minutes away. The trapped workers died about one hour before this response unit arrived, their escape blocked by a steep vertical section of the tunnel deep inside the mountain.

CSB Investigations Supervisor Don Holmstrom, who led the investigation, said, “The five trapped workers communicated with co-workers and emergency responders using handheld radios for approximately 45 minutes, desperately calling for help, before succumbing to smoke inhalation. Their lives likely could have been saved had qualified, company-provided rescuers been in a position to respond immediately to a fire or other emergency.”

And then there’s the issue about OSHA’s rules. As outlined in the CSB report:

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Permit-Required Confined Spaces Rule for general industry establishes no maximum permissible percentage of the LEL for safe entry and occupancy inside a permit space. OSHA has interpreted its rule to allow working in a permit-required space where the atmosphere is above 10 percent of the LEL.

However, the rule defines a flammable concentration above 10 percent of the LEL as a hazardous atmosphere “that may expose employees to the risk of death, incapacitation, impairment of ability to self-rescue…injury, or acute illness” [29CFR 1910.146(b)].

Other OSHA regulations addressing confined and enclosed spaces in the maritime industry and other sectors prohibit entry and work activities above a specific percentage of the LEL (such as 10 percent). The recent trend of consensus safety guidance and regulatory requirements from other jurisdictions has been to establish safe work limits for confined space flammable atmospheres substantially below the LEL.

Incredibly:

The CSB identified identified 53 serious flammable atmosphere confined space incidents involving fires and explosions from 1993 to April 2010; 57 percent involved a fatality. These incidents caused 54 injuries and 45 fatalities, a majority of which occurred since 2003.

The CSB recommendation to OSHA reads:

Amend the OSHA Permit-Required Confined Spaces Rule for general industry (29 CFR 1910.146) to establish a maximum permissible percentage substantially below the lower explosive limit (LEL) for safe entry and occupancy in permit-required confined spaces.

Board member Mark Griffon said:

Other OSHA regulations on confined and enclosed spaces – for example in the maritime industry and other sectors – prohibit work in such confined spaces above a specific percentage of the LEL, often ten percent. We are recommending that OSHA adopt such enforceable limits for all industry.

So far, OSHA chief David Michaels hasn’t commented directly on this, but his agency issued this very brief statement:

“OSHA is reviewing the safety board’s report, and considering its recommendations.”

Gladys Holt hugs her six-year-old son, Kyle, as they and other family members attend a news conference in Denver on Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2010, about how Xcel Energy Inc. and its contractor, RPI Coatings Inc., failed to adequately plan for hazardous work that included taking flammable solvents inside a 4,300-foot tunnel during a cleaning operation at a Xcel Energy hydroelectric plant tunnel near Georgetown, Colo., on October 2, 2007. Gladys’ husband Dupree Holt was among five workers were killed in a fire while cleaning the tunnel. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 9:34 am and is filed under 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.