From : OSHA
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Millard Refrigerated Services Inc. in Theodore with 16 alleged safety and health violations following an incident in which 152 workers were overcome by ammonia vapors. Proposed penalties total $52,500.
In August 2010, anhydrous ammonia leaked out of a 12-inch pipe located on the roof of the Millard Refrigerated Services facility, due to hydraulic shock within the pipe. A failure of a suction header inside the facility on one of the evaporators to a blast freezer also occurred at approximately the same time…One hundred fifty-two workers from several companies went to the hospital for ammonia vapor exposure, 31 were admitted and four were placed in the intensive care unit.
The company is being cited with seven serious safety and one serious health violation with $45,500 in proposed penalties. Four of the safety violations related to the incident include failure to consider hazard analysis from previous incidents; ensure an emergency shutdown would be executed in a timely and safe manner; train workers in process safety management of highly hazardous chemicals; and investigate the contributing factors to an incident that could have resulted in a catastrophic event.
Click on the links for more information.