Chemical Safety

An umbrella group of health and safety advocacy groups decried what it termed major “shortcomings” in federal and state oversight following the recent West Virginia chemical spill that left hundreds of thousands without usable water as the substance infiltrated a regional water supply.

It was revealed soon after the spill that the chemical plant involved in the massive pollution of the Elk River had no OSHA inspection history (see related blog).

The Coalition for Sensible Safeguards, an alliance of consumer and public interest groups, small businesses and individuals that generally favors more federal regulation including by OSHA, issued a statement Jan. 14 calling the spill near Charleston, WV, “the latest in a series of environmental and safety disasters” related to a lack oversight that is often “driven by vociferous, industry-funded anti-regulatory campaigns.”

“From the BP explosion and oil spill to the West, Texas, refinery explosion to the new spill in West Virginia, we’ve seen that the public pays the price when regulatory agencies don’t have the legal tools and funding to do their jobs,” the group said. “If this facility had been required to meet some basic standards and had been inspected regularly, some critics surely would have called it red tape. But such protections are crucial. Standards and safeguards save lives and protect people from corporate bad actors who, left to their own devices, put profits over people’s health.”

The coalition argued that while there has been progress over several decades in making the environment and workplaces healthier and safer, “[i]t’s time to reform our chemical safety laws -- both at the state and federal levels -- to prevent the next dangerous accident or spill.”

The chemical plant where a storage tank leak led to massive pollution of the Elk River near Charleston, WV, over the weekend, causing a widespread water crisis, had no OSHA inspection history, according to regional agency officials. OSHA has deployed to the site of Freedom Industries to investigate the disaster. Occupational health advocates also expressed dismay at a lack of overall regulatory oversight by state and federal agencies at the plant.

The agency's enforcement database shows that compliance officers tried to inspect the facility in 2009 but the inspection did not take place. A regional OSHA spokeswoman said the inspection would have fallen under an OSHA national emphasis program (NEP) on amputation hazards, but when arriving on site, inspectors learned that the industrial code for the plant was not among those targeted under the NEP.

OSHA does not have an exposure limit for the chemical but does require a material safety data sheet for it.

A release of 4-Methylcyclohexanemethanol into the river, just upstream from the intake of a major water supplier, caused the disaster, which cut off water to hundreds of thousands of residents and shut down numerous businesses. The OSHA spokeswoman said the incident did not cause any known worker injuries, however.

A federal working group of OSHA and other agencies is floating a broad set of policy options to improve chemical facility safety, including controversial measures such as first-time rules requiring the use of "safer" technologies, prompting concern from industry groups over the sweeping range of new mandates that the group is considering.

OSHA regulators are taking a close look at removing from the agency's process safety management (PSM) standard a longtime exemption for flammable liquids kept inside atmospheric storage tanks, a move they believe would override a 1997 administrative law judge ruling that OSHA says has allowed companies to skirt the PSM requirements even when the tanks are connected to a process covered by the safety standard.

Federal chemical safety experts are urging California regulators to adopt the “safety case” approach to chemical plants that is used in some European countries, saying similar regulations at the state level would effectively patch holes in federal OSHA's regulatory regime, and citing a report from their probe of the 2012 Chevron refinery blast in Richmond, CA, as underscoring the need for a change in direction.

A Louisiana petrochemical plant has been cited for OSHA safety procedure violations following a deadly blast earlier this year that drew national attention to chemical facility safety and security, including one “willful” citation by the federal agency -- a development that could also reflect intensifying pressure by OSHA on the industry through enforcement tools as well as a growing focus on process safety management (PSM).

OSHA is eying the possibility of making several major changes to its process safety management (PSM) standard, designed to protect workers from catastrophic events inside chemical plants, and process safety enforcement policies, according to sources who say the agency's thinking may be reflected in a series of questions OSHA is asking about how regulators could improve the PSM and related standards.

Worker safety and environmental advocates in New Jersey are voicing deep concerns about the effectiveness of the state government's rollout of rules intended to require so-called “inherently safer technology” (IST) in chemical plants across the densely populated state, echoing calls at the federal level for rules mandating employers seek alternatives to cut the risks involved in chemicals and processes currently in use.

OSHA, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Homeland Security are working toward a formal partnership in which data would be shared among the agencies regarding chemical plant safety and security, OSHA chief David Michaels recently said.

Political leaders in both parties made emphatic statements that more effective data sharing among OSHA and other federal agencies -- especially the Environmental Protection Agency -- could help head off chemical releases and explosions stemming from inadequate plant safety measures.