Industrial accident victims go years without
compensation
Many victims of industrial accidents have
been left for decades without compensation
because their employers were uninsured,
chairman of the Association of Insurance
Companies said on Wednesday.
Andreas Stylianou was speaking at the 40th
annual general meeting of the association
and slammed “the problematic attitude” of
the labour ministry when it came to “the
vital issue” of implementing the law on
compulsory insurance for employers.
“It’s a fact that for decades victims who have
been seriously injured in industrial accidents
for which uninsured employers have
responsibility, have suffered. Victims remain
without compensation, with huge economic
and social consequences for themselves and
their families,” said Stylianou.
“And I am not referring to isolated incidents,
nor cases of minor injuries. I am referring to
accidents that leave victims with severe
disabilities and their uninsured employers
have no financial means to pay them the
damages awarded by the courts,” he added.
At the same time, he said, a legally
mandated creation of a worker
compensation fund has been pending for the
past 21 years since it would be rendered
insolvent from the onset because of the
large number of uninsured employers.
According to Stylianou, the law making
employer insurance mandatory was passed
in 1997 but was only implemented in 2012.
Initial response from uninsured employers
was excellent but implementation was
terminated soon afterwards by the labour
ministry citing the workload.
“We have been addressing this issue for five
years now to the current minister. All these
years we have shown tolerance and
understanding,” he added, urging the
minister to immediately ensure effective
implementation of the legislation and the
protection of victims of industrial accidents.
Speaking of the insurance industry in
general, Stylianou said that in 2017 the
number of new policies overall rose by 6.4
per cent, worth €813m, compared with
€764m worth of new policies in 2016. Within
that figure the number of life insurance
policies taken out rose 7.8 per cent in 2017.
Insurance companies paid out a total of €486
million in claims last year.
Stylianou said that despite a difficult
economic climate, insurance industry
investments exceed €2.5 billion and have
returned to pre-crisis levels.
“Insurance companies remain one of the
most important institutional investors
contributing significantly to the wider
economy,” he said.
Reaction:
I feel sorry for the victims of industrial
accidents who have been left for decades
without compensation because their
employers are uninsured. Unfortunately, t
Improving the safety of oil production in
Greece
The FINANCIAL -- The world runs on
hydrocarbons. But the impacts of oil
production are significant and accidents like
the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon
drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010
are a reminder of its potential dangers.
Yet economies still need the black gold and
countries with meaningful reserves cannot
afford not to exploit their natural resources.
Viable domestic production not only helps
the trade balance but it is also an important
contributor to energy independence.
For many years, Greece has based its energy
supply mostly on imports of its oil and gas
needs. Domestic production of natural
resources was limited to lignite (sometimes
known as ‘brown coal’) with only limited
offshore oil production, suffering from years
of underinvestment. However, since 2012
Greece has taken steps to stimulate
exploration efforts and revive its energy
industry. While some companies have
recently shown more interest in exploration
(such as Repsol), the Greek company
Energean is the only domestic producer at
present.
The EBRD has identified energy as one of its
core activities in Greece. In addition to
supporting green energy with a €300 million
renewables framework, the Bank has also
provided a US$ 90 million loan to Energean
for the development of the company’s
assets. This loan has now been
complemented with a technical assistance
programme for the implementation of new
regulations to strengthen the safety of oil
protection and increase the protection of
humans and the environment, according to
the EBRD.
Following the Deepwater Horizon accident,
the European Commission launched an
assessment of safety in offshore oil and gas
exploration as well as production activities in
European waters. The investigation
concluded that while a number of best
practices already existed in European Union
(EU) member states in relation to safety,
preparedness and response, the divergent
and fragmented regulatory framework,
along with current industry safety practices,
did not provide adequate protection from
risks of offshore accidents. Other findings
pointed out that countries’ different safety
regimes can complicate the understanding
and management of risks, increase costs and
slow down the response time in the event of
accidents with trans-boundary effects.
These conclusions are all the more relevant
in light of the transformation of the
European oil and gas industry in response to
the progressive depletion of "easy”
reservoirs. Exploration is moving towards
more complex environments characterised
by high pressure/high temperature
reservoirs, deeper waters and/or extreme
climate conditions that may complicate the
control of subsea installations and incident
response.
At the same time, production facilities in
maturing fields are ageing and often taken
over by specialist operators with smaller
capital bases. The study concluded that
while risks could not be totally eliminated in
the offshore hydrocarbon industry, the
safety and integrity of operations and
assurances of maximum protection of
people and the environment needed to be
guaranteed.

Following this examination, the European
Parliament issued the European Offshore
Safety Directive (Directive 2013/30/EU) in
2013. It aims to reduce, as far as possible,
major accidents relating to offshore oil and
gas operations and to limit their
consequences; increase the protection of
the marine environment and coastal
economies against pollution; establish
minimum conditions for safe offshore
exploration and exploitation of oil and gas;
and to improve the response mechanisms in
case of an accident.
energy in Athens in the presence of EBRD
Managing Director for central and south-
eastern Europe, Charlotte Ruhe and EBRD
Regional Director for Greece and Cyprus,
Sabina Dziurman. Ben Oudman, Regional
Manager for DNV, said: “I am sure that this
will be a positive step in Greece to maintain
a good record in major hazard management
offshore.”
The development of this guidance allows
existing and new entrants to the Greek oil
and gas industry offshore to be certain of a
robust and well-formed regulatory regime.

Each EU member state had to transpose the

directive into national legislation. Greece
transposed the Directive in July 2016.
However, secondary legislation, detailed
guidelines and response plans were also
needed to ensure the adequate
implementation of the directive. This is
where the EBRD came in.

Together with the Greek regulator HHRM, a

plan was developed for a technical
assistance project to support the
implementation of the directive and improve
the offshore environment, health and safety
regulations in Greece. The EU provided
€290,000 in support.

In the summer of 2017, following an

international public tender, DNV GL was
selected as the preferred consultant to
implement the project which was
successfully realised in the following months
in cooperation between DNV, the EBRD and
HHRM. Following the completion of the
work, offshore major hazards guidance was
presented to several international and
domestic companies (Total, Exxon, Repsol,
Energean and Hellenic Petroleum, among
others) and the ministry of environment and
New Philippine speed limits aim to reduce
road accidents
To further promote road safety, the
Department of Transportation (DOTr),
together with the Department of Interior
and Local Government (DILG), and the
Department of Public Works and Highways
(DPWH), launched Joint Memorandum
Circular (JMC) 2018-001 on the classification
of roads for setting speed limits.
JMC 2018-001 will be providing guidelines on
setting speed limits and create coordination
mechanisms for the setting of speed limits
on national roads. It will help the national
government coordinate with local
government units (LGUs) to work together in
enforcing speed limits by classifying the
roads and in order to create a set speed limit.
It also clarifies the juridsitciton of LGUs over
national roads, allowing them to lower
speed limits when needed, subject to DOTr
and DPWH approval.
It was initially created to strengthen the
implementation of Republic Act 4136;
specifically Sections 35 which states that
motorists driving on a highway shall do so at
a “careful and prudent speed” so as not to
“endanger the life, limb, and property of any
person.” Furthermore, it states that no
person shall drive at a speed greater than
what is allowed, reasonable, and will permit
him to bring the vehicle to a stop within the
assured clear distance ahead.
Apart from officials from DILG and DPWH,
Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade will
be joined by representatives from the World
Health Organization (WHO), League of
Municipalities of the Philippines, and the
League of Cities of the Philippines during the
launch. Road safety and public policy
advocacy groups such as ImagineLaw and
Dakila will also be present.
A WHO study says that speed is the most
significant contributor to road crash
fatalities. It was found to increases both the
risk of a crash happening, and the severity of
injuries. According to the WHO, a 1km/h
increase in one’s speed increases the risk of
injury by at least 3% and the risk of a fatality
by 4-5%. Furthermore, studies have shown
that speed is the primary cause in 30% of
fatal road crashes.
The DOTr has also partnered with the World
Bank to develop a system for road crash data
collection called Data for Road Incident
Visualization Evaluation and Reporting
(DRIVER) system. It is a web application that
is designed to view, collect, and analyze road
incident data in the Philippines, particularly
traffic incidents, disruptions, and crimes.
The application provides data viewing and
entry tools such as graph and map
interfaces, custom report and filter tools,
multiple concurrent user editing, and data
exports. Apart from gathering data, it will
also allow for better allocation of resources
as it comes with data visualization tools.
PH needs law on workplace safety after
decade of tragedies
The fire in NCCC Mall in Davao City, which
killed 38 call center agents, prompts calls for
a law on comprehensive workplace safety
law in the Philippines.
MANILA, Philippines – The December mall
fire in Davao City, which took the life of 38
workers, is just one of deadly workplace
incidents in the last 10 years.
Figures from the Department of Labor and
Employment (DOLE) show that between
January 2014 and October 2016, there have
been 199 fatal workplace accidents and 232
non-fatal ones.
Other incidents include:
May 2017 - Yokohama Tire Philippines
factory fire (no casualty)
February 2017 - 5 employees died, House
Technology Industry (HTI) factory fire in
Cavite
November 2016 - two children killed, 5
injured in a factory that exploded in Bulacan
May 2015 - 72 workers killed in the Kentex
factory fire in Valenzuela City
July 2015 - 9 workers buried alive in the
collapse of Semirara Mining Corporation’s
open pit coal mine in Caluya, Antique
July 2012 - 18 workers died in a fire in a
building in Butuan City
January 2011 - 10 construction workers were
killed in a construction site in Makati City
after the collapse of a service elevator
Safer workplace bill
“These numbers show the poor state of
compliance with the Occupational Safety
and Health Standards (OSHS). Despite the
fact that workplace accidents would always
prompt tighter regulations, compliance by
all industries continue to be an issue,” said
Federation of Free Workers (FFW) president
Sonny Matula.
“We have no comprehensive law on
occupational safety and health – what we
have are scattered administrative issuances
by DOLE, DENR (Department of Environment
and Natural Resources), and DOE
(Department of Energy) on OSHS on
different industries,” he also said.
Currently, OSHS provisions are integrated
into the Labor Code of the Philippines, which
does not declare violations as unlawful nor
bound for a penalty. The stiffest sanction
they face is a work stoppage order issued by
the DOLE.
Meanwhile, Matula said that other orders
have “archaic provisions,” with maximum
fines of only P10,000.
A measure has been pending for second
reading in the Senate, seeking to impose a
P100,000 penalty on a company for each day
of non-correction of an OSHS violation.
Senate Bill 1317, filed by Senator Joel
Villanueva in the aftermath of the HTI
tragedy, also seeks a P250,000 to P500,000
fine on a company in the event of a worker’s
death.
Villanueva earlier called for an urgent
passage of the measure following the NCCC
Mall fire.
The FFW, on the other hand, proposes that
the fine to be collected from the employers
be used for the operation of OSH initiatives,
such as training, education, and other OSH-
related programs.
DOLE probe

DOLE has launched its independent

investigation into the NCCC mall fire but has
yet to reveal its findings.

Davao Regional Office spokesperson Jayson

Balais told Rappler in an interview that while
they have teams gathering information for
the probe, their efforts are focused on
ensuring employment for the surviving
workers.

Around 2,000 workers were affected by the

fire – 660 of them directly-hired employees
of the mall and 192 are outsourced.

“We cannot give an update yet. We are

meeting with the people of NCCC now for
[workers] not to be displaced. [We are
talking about] long-term deployment to
other establishments,” said Balais.

Meanwhile, the Interagency Anti-Arson Task

Force said that initial results of their
investigation show that the mall failed to
comply with fire safety requirements.

Task Force spokesperson Fire

Superintendent Jerry Candido said in a
MindaNews report that the sprinklers of the
building were not functional and that the
doors were not fire resistant, in violation of
the country’s fire code.

Workers of SSI were also trapped because

the office had its own alarm system, contrary
to the law requiring emergency alarms to be
interconnected.

The Bureau of Fire Protection sacked 5 city

fire officials on December 31. – Rappler.com
Senate approves occupational safety bill
The Senate approved on Monday on third
and final reading a bill which would mandate
stricter compliance by employers to the
Occupational Safety and Health Standards
(OSHS).
Senate Bill No. 1317 or the proposed “Act
Strengthening Compliance with
Occupational Safety and Health Standard”
was approved with 20 affirmative votes, zero
negative votes and no abstention.
The bill was authored and sponsored by
Senator Joel Villanueva, chair of the Senate
Committee on Labor, Employment and
Human Resources Development.
Villanueva said that by ensuring maximum
safety and health at work, the bill would help
increase productivity in workplaces, and
“businesses will be more successful and
sustainable.”
“The passage of this measure is important
because the very lives and welfare of our
workers are at stake,” Villanueva said in a
statement.
Villanueva said the bill amends the 41 year
old Labor Code and imposes administrative
penalties to employers who will not comply
with requirements set under the OSHS.
Under the proposed measure, any erring
employer would be served a fine of up to
P100,000 “as an administrative penalty for
every day of non-correction of violation.”
“This is to reiterate that violation of OSH
standards is deliberate disrespect of the
well-being of our workers and derogation of
the right to humane conditions of work,”
Villanueva said.
The proposed measure also guarantees the
payment of workers’ wages and income
during work stoppage or suspension of
operation “due to imminent danger as a
result of the employer’s violation or fault.”
Villanueva stressed the need for a proactive
approach to help employers, workers, and
the government find and fix workplace
hazards before workers get hurt.
According to a Philippine Statistics Authority
(PSA) study released in October 2015,
occupational diseases in establishments
employing 20 or more workers doubled from
85,583 in 2011 to 171, 787 in 2013.
The Department of Labor and Employment
(DOLE) also reported 199 fatal workplace
accidents and 232 non-fatal accidents from
January 2014 to October 2016.
Villanueva said that the numbers showed
poor compliance of employers with the OSH
standards.
“Despite the fact that workplace accidents
would always prompt tighter regulations,
compliance by all industries continues to be
an issue,” he added.
“Let us now make safety and health in the
workplace work for all,” Villanueva said. /je
The Boom Shift - Chemical Plant Explosion
Claims and the Possible Adoption of
Corporate Regulation Where Government
Regulation is Absent
On the morning of March 15, 2018, a large
explosion erupted at the Tri-Chem Industries
chemical plant in Cresson, Texas,
approximately 25 miles southwest of Fort
Worth. The explosion left two workers badly
injured and another presumed dead.
According to 2017 Hood County records of
the company’s chemical inventory, it has
been reported that Tri-Chem’s Cresson plant
stored chemicals that were toxic, flammable
and corrosive yet the company had no
emergency response plans in its files.
Ironically, the Tri-Chem plant explosion
occurred just one day before the D.C. Circuit
Court heard arguments in a case challenging
the Environmental Protection Agency’s
decision to delay major chemical plant safety
regulations implemented under the Obama
administration. The regulations at the
center of that litigation were designed to
prevent and mitigate chemical accidents and
strengthen emergency protocols for
chemical plants. In that lawsuit, the United
Steelworkers, the Sierra Club and other
environmental groups sued the EPA,
claiming that the EPA’s delay of the rule
violated the Clean Air Act.
Industry groups opposing chemical risk
management rules have argued that the
regulation’s requirements are overly broad
and could result in disclosure of sensitive
information to criminal and/or terrorist
groups. The chemical plant safety
regulations at issue in the case are only one
set of environmental regulations where the
current EPA has sought to roll back the prior
administration’s push. Environmental
groups have pointed out that chemical plant
explosions, like Tri-Chem’s, are an example
of what can happen in the future without the
regulations.
What are the insurance implications?
Unfortunately, hazardous chemical incidents
are not uncommon. Texas, as well as other
states, have suffered a series of chemical
plant explosions in the last decade. From
2004 to 2013, more than 1,500 incidents of
chemical releases or explosions were
reported.
As the frequency of chemical plant
explosions increases, it is likely that more
insureds will look to the insurance
marketplace for coverage. This could take
several forms. Companies that own the
chemical plants might attempt to seek
coverage for their property damage under
their environmental insurance policies.
Emergency workers, neighboring residents,
or company employees could also try to seek
coverage for their injuries and losses. Claims
against a chemical plant could include claims
that the company improperly stored or
handled dangerous chemicals or that the
company failed to create adequate safety
procedures. A company whose negligence
was the cause of a chemical plant explosion
and resulting injuries may be liable to
emergency and medical first responders,
neighboring residents and community
members who were injured or became ill
from chemical exposure, as well as
employees and contractors injured at the
facility. Insurance carriers can work with
their insureds to educate them about
prevention and the importance of having
emergency protocols in place in the event an
accident does occur.
The relaxation of regulation by the EPA or
other governmental agencies may also lead
to the implementation of protective
safeguards in insurance policies to minimize
the risk of incident. Insurers may wish to
adopt a listing of regulation-like terms that
would be preconditions to affording
coverage. For instance, insurers may take
the position that where the insured – a
chemical plant – does not have an
emergency response plan or proper
equipment on hand for such a response, the
insured’s negligence in maintaining such
items would be a basis for limiting coverage
and/or for the outright barring of indemnity
recovery or defense in the event of a third-
party action.

The explosion at Tri-Chem was a terrible

tragedy. Chemical plant explosions and fires
present significant risks to workers andfor
the potential for large-scale property
damage and public health impacts. Even if
companies make greater efforts to
implement safety and risk management
programs, some accidents may prove
unavoidable. Therefore, regardless of how
the legal action over the EPA regulations
plays out and how the industry players
choose to behave, one thing is certain:
chemical plant explosions will remain a
significant risk for both insureds and insurers
alike.
Refineries on the Gulf Coast Are Accidents
Waiting to Happen
ON SEPTEMBER 3, 2017, shortly after the
storm clouds from Hurricane Harvey
departed East Texas, Scott Eustis, a wetlands
ecologist with the New Orleans–based Gulf
Restoration Network, hitched a ride on a
plane stuffed with diapers, bottled water,
and first-aid kits. The volunteers on board
were delivering emergency supplies to
hurricane victims. Eustis was scouting for oil
and chemical spills.
The flooding had receded from its peak a few
days earlier, but torrents of water were still
flowing through the ExxonMobil refinery in
Beaumont, Texas. From news reports, Eustis
knew that sulfur dioxide had been released
into the air when the facility was shut down
the week before. But flying over the Neches
River, along which the refinery is located, he
observed a massive oil slick as well. "The
whole river was gray with oil," he says.
In an article published by the Beaumont
Enterprise, an ExxonMobil representative
acknowledged the sheen and said that the
company had taken steps to contain it but
that the exact source of the oil was
unknown. "There are hundreds of facilities
and thousands of oil wells, pipelines, and
interconnection points that could leak or
break," Eustis says. "When the entire river is
covered in oil, it's almost impossible to
attribute it to one company or another. The
government doesn't have the manpower to
police these things, especially during a
disaster."
On the eve of the storm, Texas governor
Greg Abbott had temporarily waived
reporting and response requirements for
dozens of state pollution laws. That waiver,
coupled with the sheer volume of storm-
related spills, made it difficult to assess the
full extent of the environmental damage
from Harvey. What is known is that 6 million
pounds of benzene, toluene, and other
chemicals were released into the air, and 31
million gallons of raw sewage and at least
700,000 gallons of oil and other pollutants
were spilled. More than 650 energy and
industrial facilities were flooded, including
13 Superfund sites.
The prevailing attitude is one of reacting to
storms rather than preparing for them.
"This is just the tip of the iceberg," says Ilan
Levin, associate director of the
Environmental Integrity Project. "It will be
months or years before we know the extent
of the petrochemical substances that have
leaked into the soil and water, if ever."
The 2017 hurricane season—in which
September was the most active month of
any Atlantic hurricane season on record—
threw into sharp relief the implications of
concentrating the nation's petrochemical
infrastructure in such a hurricane-prone
region. The Gulf of Mexico produces 17
percent of the nation's crude oil. Roughly
half of the nation's petroleum and natural
gas is refined on the Gulf Coast. Spills, leaks,
and explosions are an issue anywhere that
the oil and gas industry operates. But on the
Gulf Coast, the impacts of high winds, storm
surges, and recurrent flooding compound
these risks.
While urban development in the region is
often sequestered behind 10-to-15-foot-tall
levees and floodwalls, oil, gas, and
petrochemical facilities are allowed to be far
more exposed. "You can't get mortgage
insurance for a home unless it's out of the
100-year floodplain," Eustis says. "But most
[petrochemical] facilities are only required
to withstand a 25-year-flood event." Harvey
was considered a 1,000-year-flood event;
other parts of the Gulf Coast have seen
multiple 100- and 500-year floods over the
last several years.
But wouldn't the industry want to protect its
infrastructure from storms, if only for
economic reasons? The financial
repercussions of storm damage for oil
companies are minimal compared with the
companies' profits, Eustis says. Ultimately,
storm risk is built into their budgets, the
cleanup costs covered by a combination of
insurance payouts, price increases at the
pump, and taxpayer dollars. The prevailing
attitude is one of reacting to storms rather
than preparing for them.
open nearly all U.S. coastal waters to
offshore oil drilling. Accompanying that
announcement was a proposal to roll back
oil rig safety regulations that were instituted
following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon
disaster. Discarding those rules would save
the oil and gas industry a mere $23 million
annually.
As the 2018 hurricane season approaches,
Eustis says, mechanisms to hold corporate
players liable—not just for cleanup but also
for installing the infrastructure to prevent
storm damage—are desperately needed.
"Allowing them to build to such low
standards is just another way we subsidize
the oil industry. It's beyond poor planning—
it's planned unpreparedness."

As destructive as Harvey was, it could have

been worse—most of the damage was
caused by rain, not by high winds or storm
surges. As a result of Hurricane Katrina,
which created a 28-foot storm surge in some
places, 7 to 9 million gallons of crude oil
spilled from damaged pipelines and drilling
platforms, nearly as much as the 1989 Exxon
Valdez spill in Alaska. Modeling by the
Severe Storm Prediction, Education, and
Evacuation from Disasters Center at Rice
University shows that a Category 4
hurricane, if it entered the Houston Ship
Channel head on, would send a 25-to-30-
foot wall of water crashing over the levees.
At least 200 petrochemical storage tanks are
located in the area. An estimated 100 million
gallons of petrochemicals could be spilled.

Rather than prepare for a future in which

storms and hurricanes increase in number
and intensity, the Trump administration is
taking steps to ease existing protections. In
January, the Interior Department pledged to
OSHA fails to protect workers from
chemical exposure
Nearly a half a century after Congress
established the Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA), one would
think there would be a lot to celebrate this
Saturday on Workers Memorial Day. It is a
established to commemorate workers who
have died of work-related injuries and
diseases. But when it comes to worker
protections, the United States has a long way
to go, and we fear we are going backward.
On average, 14 workers die every day from a
fatal injury at work and this statistic does not
reflect deaths from occupational diseases
caused by chemical exposures.
OSHA is failing when it comes to protecting
workers exposed to dangerous chemicals. Of
the thousands of chemicals in the workplace,
OSHA has set only about 30 exposure limits,
in addition to the 470 it adopted from
industry that date to the 1960s or earlier.
Many of these limits are dangerously
unprotective.
There are several reasons for OSHA’s lack of
up-to-date, protective standards. It requires
dozens of staff and millions of dollars to do
the studies required to justify a new
standard.
It gets worse. OSHA cannot set an exposure
limit for a new chemical until it has proven it
poses a significant risk. In effect, chemicals
are presumed “safe” until proven otherwise.
Many health experts refer to this as OSHA’s
“body in the morgue” requirement.
The result: in the last 20 or so years, OSHA
has issued new regulations for only three
chemicals.
OSHA has reasonably protective standards
for a few toxic substances, such as asbestos,
benzene, and formaldehyde, but
enforcement is challenging. Federal OSHA
only has enough inspectors to inspect every
workplace once — every 159 years!
During the previous presidential
administration, OSHA made it clear that
employers should not rely on the agency’s
exposure limits because they are not safe.
Major chemical companies know this and
don’t follow OSHA standards in their own
workplaces; they control exposures at lower
levels. But small businesses and self-
employed people who aren’t covered by
OSHA likely don’t know any better. It isn’t
surprising then that many workers get ill and
even die from chemical exposures.
There was a moment of hope in 2016 when
Congress amended the Toxic Substances
Control Act and made it clear that the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is
not only responsible for protecting the
general public from dangerous chemical
exposures, but also workers on the job.
EPA and OSHA protections are
complimentary. EPA can issue standards
based on animal evidence — it doesn’t need
the dead bodies to prove its case. And unlike
OSHA, EPA has a strict timeline to complete
its assessments.
Some toxic chemicals manufacturers now
are lobbying EPA to “defer” to OSHA,
because they know the difficulty of getting
regulations out of OSHA.
The Trump administration’s regulatory
agenda is better characterized as a de-
regulatory agenda. What it sees as cutting
red tape is actually cutting important and
hard-fought protections.

For example, the Labor Department delayed

implementing strengthened standards for
silica and beryllium, both years in the
making. Both substances cause irreversible
lung disease and are carcinogens.

The administration also stopped developing

a rule to protect workers from exposure to
1-bromopropane, a dangerous neurotoxin
that has been classified as reasonably likely
to cause cancer in humans.

In addition, the Mine Safety and Health

Administration is delaying rules to protect
miners from diesel exhaust, despite studies
showing exposure increases miners' lung
cancer risks. The agency is also re-evaluating
its standards protecting miners from black
lung disease — at a time when the National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
(NIOSH) has identified the largest cluster of
advanced black lung disease ever reported.

Nor is the administration eager to hear what

research has to say. It has proposed cutting
the NIOSH budget by whopping 40 percent.
Never mind that Congress had the wisdom to
establish an entity to focus specifically on
workplace health and safety research.

As former OSHA and NIOSH officials, we care

deeply about the nation’s workforce and are
concerned that the current administration is
taking us in the wrong direction. When more
needs to be done to protect this precious
resource, essential safeguards are being
rolled back. Our loved ones, friends, and
colleagues deserve better.
Confusion, lack of safety concern led to
three deaths at Packaging Corporation of
America mill
A company’s internal confusion and lack of
concern for safety caused the deaths of
three workers and injuries to seven others
last year at the Packaging Corporation of
America (PCA) container board mill in
DeRidder, La. In a report released today, the
U.S. Chemical Safety & Hazard Investigation
Board (CSB) urges that tanks holding liquids
at atmospheric pressure, such as the one
that exploded at PCA, be regulated.
Alternatively, companies should voluntarily
take adequate safety precautions, CSB says.
On Feb. 8, 2017, welders above a leaking
380,000 L waste tank likely provided a spark
that set off an explosion. The tank flew over
the top of a six-story building and landed 114
m away. The people who died were all
contract workers conducting routine
maintenance during an annual shutdown.
The welders were repairing water lines
above a pulp waste tank that held a mix of
water, sulfuric substances, and residual
turpentine. Most of the turpentine had been
stripped during manufacturing processes,
and the waste tank was intended to hold
only small amounts of the hydrocarbon.
But because of a company dispute over who
was responsible for skimming and removing
the residual turpentine, the tank instead
held an unusually large amount of
turpentine—a fact that the welders working
above it did not know. Turpentine is
immiscible in and less dense than water, so
it separated to rest on top of the waste
mixture.
Additionally, a crack in the tank allowed air
to mix with flammable vapor in the tank. The
crack also likely provided a pathway for
vapor to extend between the tank and the
welders working above, permitting a
welder’s spark to ignite the tank contents.
“Hot work, such as welding, conducted
around tanks containing flammable
materials can be catastrophic,” says CSB
chairperson Vanessa Allen Sutherland. “That
is why it is so important for companies to
effectively identify, evaluate, and control
potential hazards prior to initiation of hot
work.” CSB first identified atmospheric tanks
as a potential hazard in 2002.
Sutherland reiterated a 2002 CSB
recommendation issued to the Occupational
Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) that
the agency include atmospheric storage
tanks under its process safety management
(PSM) standards if the tanks are connected
to a PSM-covered process, which would have
included PCA’s tank. Sutherland also
recommends that the pulp and paper
industry apply PSM principles, even if not
required by regulation.
For this accident, OSHA has proposed a fine
of $63,375. The company is contesting
OSHA’s findings.