By Kristine Catimbang, OSHAcademy Training Coordinator

Two workers at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System West Haven campus were finishing up repairs on a steam pipe when a fixture broke off the pipe. As a result, steam rapidly filled the work area. The accident occurred while the workers were refilling the pipe with steam. The two workers suffered fatal injuries from the steam pipe accident. One worker was an employee of the Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System West Haven campus, and the other worker was an employee of Mulvaney Mechanical Inc. The employer could have prevented the deaths if they complied with safety standards that are designed to prevent the unexpected release of hazardous energy and protect workers. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) found a lack of hazardous energy controls when investigating the accident (Collins, 2021).

OSHA also found that the Veterans Affairs hospital failed to (OSHA, 2021):

• Properly shutdown to avoid additional hazards to employees.
• Relieve or render safe all potentially hazardous residual energy.
• Maintain adequate procedures for isolating steam branches supplying campus buildings.
• Conduct regular inspections of lockout/tagout (LOTO) procedures to correct inadequacies or deviations.
• Provide adequate training to supervisory employees.
• Retrain employees when there is a change in their job assignments or a change in machines, equipment, or processes that present an additional hazard.
• Notify affected employees of the application and removal of LOTO devices.
• Inform Mulvaney Mechanical Inc. of the Veterans Hospital’s LOTO procedures.
• Ensure each authorized employee applies a personal LOTO device to the group lockout device before working on the machine or equipment.

OSHA cited Mulvaney Mechanical Inc. for failure to (OSHA, 2021):

• Develop, document, and use LOTO procedures to control hazardous energy.
• Adequately train employees on the methods needed to isolate and control energy.
• Inform the Veterans Hospital of Mulvaney Mechanical’s LOTO procedures.
• Ensure each authorized employee applies a personal LOTO device to the group lockout device.

OSHA cannot impose monetary penalties to other federal agencies, but the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs would have received a $621,218 penalty if it was a private sector employer. OSHA cited Mulvaney Mechanical Inc. $38,228.

Check out OSHAcademy Course 621 Controlling Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout) to learn more about safety standards regarding controlling hazardous energy.

References

Collins, Dave. (June 2021). Probe of VA hospital worker deaths finds safety violations. Retrieved from https://apnews.com/article/ct-state-wire-business-5ad6b894c9147677d700497cfb6943c2

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). (June 2021). OSHA News Release – Region 1. Retrieved from https://www.osha.gov/news/newsreleases/region1/06022021