OSHA levies proposed $32,700 fine on ExxonMobil for refinery death

On April 11, Nelson Tan, 49, of Cerritos, suffered second and third degree burns over 85 percent of his body when he was struck by a blast of boiling water and steam that shot 25 feet out of a piece of equipment while he was working at the ExxonMobil refinery.

Following the incident, OSHA has recently cited ExxonMobil for two serious violations and one general violation that resulted in death of Nelson Tan. A proposed fine of $32,700 has been levied on the ExxonMobil refinery for the scalding death of Tan. He was taken to Torrance Memorial Medical Center after the accident; he died about five hours later in the burn unit.

"We deeply regret the death of employee Nelson Tan," said ExxonMobil refinery spokeswoman Carolin Keith. "Safety is our first priority and the loss of life at our facility is not acceptable under any circumstances.

"We have fully cooperated with the Cal-OSHA investigation and, while I cannot comment on the individual citations because they're under review, I can assure you we take OSHA's findings very seriously. We will consider an appeal only after we have completed our review of the citations, and that's ongoing at this time."

Sources:
Green, Nick. "Cal-OSHA levies proposed $32,700 fine on ExxonMobil for refinery death." Dailybreeze.com. 16 Sept. 2009. Web. 17 Sept. 2009.