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Subject: LA Times Article
Date: Sun, 1 Mar 2009 12:47:04 -0500
Author: Greg Nottingham 		Next by Date:
Subject: Re: LA Times Article
Date: Mon, 2 Mar 2009 23:10:21 -0500
Author: "George D. McCallion"


Date: Sun, 1 Mar 2009 20:03:26 -0800
Reply-To: Todd <p3wt3r**At_Symbol_Here**CHARTER.NET>
Sender: DCHAS-L Discussion List <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU>
From: Todd <p3wt3r**At_Symbol_Here**CHARTER.NET>
Subject: OSHA fines for nitroaniline spill
In-Reply-To: <0F3ED479-A3FE-44A8-8B81-80725403CA27**At_Symbol_Here**cox.net>
The LA article brought this to mind, so I thought I'd share:

Back in August, 2008, there was a spill of paranitroaniline(PNA) at the G.S. Robins facility in East St. Louis, IL (RoCorp). There were multiple levels of management onsite as this was the first time that this chemical was being transfered from 55 gal drums to bulk containers (aka "SuperSacks"). A drum spilled and 8 individuals, including the aforementioned managers and some temporary workers, were exposed to this chemical. Everyone left the site and a number of them were later forced to seek medical attention. The unknown nature of the HazMat involved caused some of the local emergency rooms shut down and decontaminate. 

OSHA has recently come back with proposed fines from this incident.

There are definitely lessons here with regards to reviewing processes and hazards, taking the precautions necessary to protect employees, and having appropriate plans in place to deal with emergencies.

Post accident reviews:
http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2008/09/01/daily24.html
http://www.ksdk.com/includes/tools/print.aspx?storyid=153689

OSHA's response:
http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2009/02/23/daily69.html?surround=etf

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