Worker exposed to chlorine gas.......

Chlorine is used in our industry as one method to remove impurities in aluminium. The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog has posted incidents involving chlorine gas leaks. Here is a story where a worker was sickened due to chlorine gas exposure.

An aluminium company in the Midwest United States has been cited by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for 13 serious violations, carrying proposed penalties of over $75,000. OSHA initiated an inspection of the aluminum plant in 2013 after receiving a referral that a worker was sickened by exposure to hazardous chlorine gas while changing cylinders. The inspection also found that company officials did not remove other workers from the area after exposure to the gas was known and failed to evaluate the danger to life and health.

"Employers have a responsibility to provide workers with proper training and to implement procedures that protect employees from chemical hazards in the workplace," said the OSHA area director. "It's unacceptable that (company) failed to develop safety procedures to prevent the release of chlorine gas during maintenance. When a release of chlorine gas occurred, the company failed to remove employees immediately from potential exposure. This can cause severe health issues related to the skin and the respiratory and central nervous systems. Exposure to high concentrations can result in death."

Thirteen serious violations were issued. The company was cited for:

·         Failing to establish lockout/tagout procedures to prevent the inadvertent release of chemical energy;

·         An inability to estimate employee exposure during a chlorine release;

·         Failing to provide training to employees performing emergency response procedures;

·         Lack of annual inspections of energy control procedures; and

·         Stacking large totes of crushed aluminum casts in an unstable manner.

Six of the citations involve violations of OSHA's respiratory protection standards, such as:

·         Not having a written respiratory protection program,

·         Failing to medically evaluate workers required to use a respirator and

·         Not providing adequate training.

A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

The APSB importance of evacuation plans can be learned from this incident. Hopefully, in the future the emergency management plan for this plant will be reviewed and any deficiencies will be noted and corrected.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has some useful information pertaining toward respiratory protection. It  can be viewed here:

When applicable the APSB will post pertinent safety videos. Here is a video on how to change chlorine gas cylinders. The video mentions contacting the fire department prior to changing of the cylinders and contacting them afterwards when the procedure is completed. Initially one would think that might be excessive, but in reality it is not. It is the safest thing to do.

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