OSHA fines Sugar City potato processor for releasing gas
Dickinson Frozen Foods is cited and fined $273,000 for violating serious safety procedures.
The Department of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) found the frozen food manufacturer failed to safeguard employees and maintenance technicians when 1,300 pounds of anhydrous ammonia leaked at it’s Sugar City facility on Dec. 1, 2015.
Investigators issued 19 serious and two willful citations. You can read the full citations here.
Federal investigators found the company lacked adequate emergency response program known as the “Process Safety Management Plan,” along with training, inadequate protective clothing, and respirators.
Anhydrous ammonia is a colorless gas with a pungent odor that is widely used in agricultural and industrial refrigeration systems.
The ammonia vapor could cause severe irritation of the eyes and respiratory tract. If mixed with certain other chemicals , it can produce a violent reaction or a life-threatening explosion.
According to OSHA, the Dickinson Frozen Foods in Sugar City employs over 220 workers. The workers process, clean, blanch and freeze potatoes before shipping them. The company sells processed potatoes for consumer items such as frozen dinners.
Area Director for OSHA, David Kearns, said the investigation of the leak led them to uncover dozens of hazards related to emergency response, respiratory protection and process safety management of hazardous materials violations.
“I think our biggest concern is with those technicians that actually responded to the leak in an attempt to stop it,” Kearns said.
Kearns said the technicians that are expected to deal with and handle the ammonia system were not sufficiently trained and were not provided or required to use the appropriate respiratory protection.
“When you don’t know what the level of a chemical is and you haven’t assessed it, you have to consider IDLH which stands for Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health. And in this case, if you’re going to go into an environment like that you have to wear a self-contained breathing apparatus similar to what firefighters wear when responding to a fire,” Kearns said.
He also said, “We issued citations because we felt that they did not have adequate process safety management. And that’s going to be part of our negotiations with them, so we will be looking for with them is that they put the process safety management plan in place,” Kearns said.
A federal administrative law judge which is under the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission will review the case until a settlement is reached by both parties or OSHA and the Dickinson Frozen Foods Facilities can come to an agreement.
The Dickinson Frozen Foods Company has not responded with any statement pertaining to the OSHA citations.
OSHA said theirinvestigators have inspected the facilities several times since 2009, citing the company for serious violations of fall hazards, respiratory hazards, confined space, emergency exits and response procedures.
