Welders exposed to toxic substances at storage tank manufacturing company

Welding without proper safety precautions can expose workers
to hazardous chemicals and fumes. 

Workers welding stainless steel and other alloy steels containing chromium metal at a Wisconsin bulk storage tank manufacturer were exposed to hazardous levels of hexavalent chromium.

At high levels, hexavalent chromium can cause lung cancer and respiratory, eye and skin damage.

After a complaint, U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors visited Imperial Industries in Rothschild and identified two willful and 12 serious safety violations.

Proposed penalties total $161,100.

"Each year 50,000 workers die from exposures to hazardous substances like chromium during their careers. Failing to take steps to limit exposure to this dangerous substance is inexcusable," said Robert Bonack, area director of OSHA's Appleton office.

"Workers pay the price when companies don't follow standards to reduce injuries and illnesses. Imperial Industries needs to take immediate steps to comply with safety and health standards."

Inspectors determined employees were exposed to hexavalent chromium at levels exceeding permissible exposure limits while welding steels containing chromium metal. Chromium is added to harden alloy steel and help it resist corrosion.

Additionally, the company failed to implement engineering controls to reduce and monitor exposure levels among workers.

The November 2014 investigation also found workers endangered by amputation and struck-by hazards because machines lacked safety mechanisms. Numerous electrical safety hazards were also identified, and workers were found operating damaged powered industrial vehicles.

Imperial Industries manufactures heavy gauge metal industrial tanks that are typically mounted to commercial trucks.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees.

OSHA's role is to ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance.

Source: OSHA

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Aerospace Defense Coatings of Georgia cited by OSHA for exposing workers to hexavalent chromium

Photo: Pakorn

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Aerospace Defense Coatings of Georgia with one willful and two repeat health violations after a follow-up inspection of the Macon facility found several of the same violations identified in 2010. Proposed penalties total $83,160.

One willful violation, with $61,600 in penalties, involves failing to provide change rooms where workers operate with hexavalent chromium. A willful violation is one committed with intentional, knowing or voluntary disregard for the law's requirements, or with plain indifference to worker safety and health.

Two repeat violations, with $21,560 in proposed penalties, involve exposure to airborne concentrations of hexavalent chromium and allowing workers to consume food where hexavalent chromium was present. A repeat violation exists when an employer previously has been cited for the same or a similar violation of a standard, regulation, rule or order at any facility in federal enforcement states within the last five years.

"Aerospace Defense Coatings of Georgia was previously cited for the same violations and has failed to take action to protect workers from the hazards associated with hexavalent chromium exposure," said Nadira Janack, assistant area director of OSHA's Atlanta-East Area Office. "Management needs to take immediate action to eliminate these hazards from the workplace."

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

U.S. jury awards troops $85 million over Iraq chemical exposure

(Reuters) - An Oregon jury awarded 12 Army National Guardsmen $85 million in damages from defense contractor KBR Inc. on Friday after finding that the company failed to protect them from exposure to cancer-causing chemicals when they served in Iraq.

Each Guard soldier was awarded $850,000 in non-economic damages and another $6.25 million in punitive damages for "reckless and outrageous indifference" to their health in the trial in U.S. District Court in Portland.

"Justice was definitely served for the 12 of us," Guardsman Rocky Bixby said, adding that two of his children were about to enter the military. "It wasn't about the money, it was about them never doing this again to another soldier."

The Oregon Guardsmen were providing security for civilian workers restoring an oil industry water plant in 2003 in southern Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein. The plant water was used to push oil to the surface.

The plant was contaminated with sodium dichromate, a chemical used to fight corrosion. Sodium dichromate contains hexavalent chromium, the toxic chemical made famous in the film "Erin Brockovich" starring Julia Roberts.

The chemical was blowing around the plant known as Qarmat Ali, the soldiers' lawyers told the court.

Geoffrey Harrison, lead trial attorney for KBR, said the contractor would appeal.

"We believe the trial court should have dismissed the case before trial," he said. "KBR did safe and exceptional work in Iraq under difficult circumstances, and we believe the facts and law ultimately will provide vindication."

The soldiers had also claimed that KBR committed fraud, but jurors rejected that claim.

The 12 Guardsmen in the suit have suffered various illnesses and disabilities and are at risk for various kinds of cancer, their lawyers said. Hexavalent chromium is "a highly potent carcinogen," they said.

Another 22 Oregon soldiers or their widows have sued KBR Inc. in Portland. More than 100 soldiers from other states have sued the company in Houston, where the company is based.

Merck and California residents embattled over toxic chemicals

Residents are concerned about exposure
to toxic chemicals in water and air.

A trial pitting residents of Merced’s Beachwood subdivision against a company formerly owned by pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. is underway.

More than 2,000 residents claim that they have been exposed to cancer-causing chemicals like hexavalent chromium by the now-closed Merced plant.


Plant site was contaminated: Merck

A lawyer representing Merck acknowledged that the site had been contaminated by arsenic and hexavalent chromium, industrial chemicals that were used for more than 20 years to pressure-treat wood for cooling tower frames, but he denied that these toxins entered the groundwater or escaped through the air.

"No one has been exposed to contamination from this wood-treating site," lawyer John Barg said in his opening statement.

According to the news article, the contamination was discovered in 1984, and the plant continued to pressure-treat wood until 1991. It was shut down in 1993.

The first phase of the trial will determine if the residents were contaminated. If the federal jury agrees, a second jury will examine if the residents were harmed by exposure to the chemicals.


More information on hexavalent chromium

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) says that chromium hexavalent (CrVI) compounds, which are often called hexavalent chromium, exist in several forms.

Industrial uses of hexavalent chromium compounds include chromate pigments in dyes, paints, inks, and plastics; chromates added as anticorrosive agents to paints, primers, and other surface coatings; and chromic acid electroplated onto metal parts to provide a decorative or protective coating.

Do you live or work close to an industrial complex? If you are concerned about your indoor air quality, you can contact one of our Air Quality Experts today or find out more on our website.

Source: http://www.standard.net/topics/business/2011/02/04/lawyer-says-plant-owned-merck-exposed-residents-toxic-chemicals