Federal chemical board suggests government broaden rules on explosive chemicals

[Susan L Gawarecki <loc@icx.net>]

I suspect that the nuclear materials industry is far safer than the

chemical industry.  Does anyone have the figures for deaths by radiation

poisoning over this 21-year period for comparison?  I expect that they

would have to be normalized based on how many workers are in each type

of industry.



--Susan Gawarecki



Federal chemical board suggests government broaden rules on explosive

chemicals

By Jeffrey Gold, Associated Press

Friday, May 31, 2002



NEWARK, N.J. — Additional chemicals should be added to federal safety

lists, and data from industrial chemical accidents should be centralized

to prevent future injuries and damage, a government safety board said. 



The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board concluded in a

study to be presented Thursday that 108 workers died in 167

uncontrolled chemical reactions from 1980 to June 2001. 



More than half the explosions involved chemicals not covered by

Occupational Safety and Health Administration or Environmental

Protection Agency regulations, leaving "significant gaps in coverage of

reactive hazards," according to the study. 



OSHA declined an invitation to participate in Thursday's hearing but

said it would send an observer. 



In a letter to the board, Assistant Labor Secretary John L. Henshaw

acknowledged that OSHA has been reviewing its rules on chemicals but

withdrew the procedures from the president's regulatory agenda to

focus on more pressing subjects. He said the topic would be

reconsidered for future regulatory actions. 



The chemical board's report was scheduled to be released and discussed

at public hearing in Paterson, where a runaway reaction injured nine

workers at the Morton Adhesives & Chemical Specialties in 1998. A

similar explosion in nearby Lodi killed five workers at the Napp

Technologies plant in 1995, prompting Congress to create the Chemical

Safety Board to investigate incidents and make recommendations. The

board has no enforcement powers. 



The board determined that regulators and industry must address the

hazards from combinations of chemicals and manufacturing processes

instead of only focusing on the properties of individual chemicals. The

study also determined, "There is no mechanism to effectively share

reactive chemical test data and lessons learned from previous reactive

incidents throughout industry." 



Among those expected to testify to the board Thursday was James

Gannon, a worker burned in the Napp explosion who still suffers from

nightmares and short-term memory loss. 



Eric Frumin, safety director for the Union of Needletrades, Industrial,

and Textile Employees, said his group petitioned OSHA in 1997 to

better help regulate the industry. "The danger of uncontrolled reactions

from so-called reactive chemicals is immense and very widespread in

most industries that use chemicals," he said. 



Representatives of several industry groups did not return messages

Wednesday. 



-- 

.....................................................

Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., Executive Director

Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee

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