OSHA began investigating S. Dahan Piping and Heating, a recycling company, following a triple fatality of two employees and the company's owner. An employee of S. Dahan Piping and Heating Company was fatally overcome by hydrogen sulfide gas while cleaning a dry well at Regal Recycling Company Inc. The owner of S. Dahan Piping and Heating, who was also the worker's father, and a Regal Recycling employee were killed while trying to rescue him from the dry well.
According to OSHA'S inspection, S. Dahan Piping and Heating, out of South Ozone, N.Y, should have monitored the air quality in the dry well to determine if there was a lack of oxygen or the presence of another breathing hazard before any of its employees entered the dry well to perform their duties. If a hazard was found, protective measures would need to have been implemented prior to employee entry. A previous post of ours discusses more in detail the dangers of confined space: http://bit.ly/49N7ES "Confined Space: Do you recognize the dangers and hazards?"
Kay Gee, OSHA's area director for Queens, Manhattan and Brooklyn stated, "Unfortunately, this incident was a classic example of a multiple-fatality event where would-be rescuers are themselves overcome in their attempt to save the initial victim." She added "Many deaths in confined spaces occur because people who are attempting to rescue someone else are neither trained nor equipped to do so." Following the incident, OSHA cited S. Dahan Piping and Heating for confined-space hazards and for not having a respiratory-protection program. The other company, Regal Recycling Company was also cited $79,000 in a serious citation for the absence of warning signs and for failure to abate notices for not correcting unrelated respiratory protection and guardrail hazards cited after a January 2009 OSHA inspection.
"This family has already paid an incalculable price with the loss of two of its loved ones," said Robert Kulick, OSHA's regional administrator in New York. "Nothing can restore their lives, but it is our hope that employers will heed these findings and take effective action to prevent future confined-space tragedies."
Sources:
"OSHA Cites Employers Following Confined-Space Deaths." Workerscompensation.com. Compnewsnetwork, 12 Jan. 2010. Web. 14 Jan. 2010.
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